BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF 189Z Am.4My ^..f^3.. 5474 Cornell University Library PT 8118.A75 H.C. Andersen's correspondence with the 3 1924 026 288 641 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S CORRESPONDENCE. The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026288641 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. Hans Christian AND^'^^teN'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE LATE GM AND- DUKE OF SAXE-WEIMAR, CHARLES DICKENS, b^c, G^c. EDITED BY FREDERICK CRAWFORD Wi\\\\ |*0t[ttiaW$ and PRemoitt London : DEAN & SON, i6oa Fleet Street, E.G. J-iL^-fiuSJ*^" lN^\1o\W4 CONTENTS. Preface Page 9 Andersen's Life , - - 13 LETTERS. Andersen to Beaulieu - - ,- 272, 299 Bille, Carl Steen Adolf - 457 Charles, Philar^te - 426 Collin, Edward 419 Dickens - - 321, 328, 375 Dingelstedt - - 303 — Editor of " New York Tribune " 464 Eisendecker, Frau von 231 Frederick, Crown Prince of Denmark 444 Grand-Duke of Weimar, 175, 183, 193, 209, 213, 224, 226, 230, 235, 240, 244, 249, 253, 259, 264, 270, 288, 293, 295, 308, 310, 317, 355, 362, 373, 381, 384, 387, 391. 394, 397, 4or, 409, 411, 414, 430, 453, 467 Hauch, Henrietta 56 Ingemann - 60, 65 Iversen, Mrs. 48 Jordan, Wm. 202 ten Kate - , 428 — — -Kaulbach, Frau 446 vm CONTENTS. Page Andersen to King Christian VIII. 165, 217 „ Maximilian II. 406 ' — Laessoe, Ludvig 42 „ Mrs. - 73 — ^^ Mrs. Signe 8.3, in, 117 '— — Lenz - ' - 159 Livingstone, Mary - 435, 442, 448 ' Lorenzen - 68 Mosenthal - - 313 ■ Miiller, Ludwig - gi, 99 Peacock, Gibson - 460 Queen-Dowager Caroline Amelia 331 Rachel ( Madame Felix) 156 Rantzow-Breitenburg, Count 145 Voigt, Christian - - 104 Wulff, Miss Henrietta 135, 157, 280, '338, 349, 367 Castelli to Andersen 149 Collin, Edward, to Andersen 275 Dickens, Charles „ - 324, 364, 471 King Maximilian II. ,, - - 405 Livingstone, Mary „ 432, 433, 438, 450 Schumann, Robert „ 151, 163 Tegn^r, Bishop „ 88 PREFACE. Hans Christian Andersen had the habit of carefully preserving everything which he considered of the slightest value or signifi- cance. Among his papers were found im- portant and unimportant letters, trivial notes, and, in particular, every written and printed line that touched upon his life's career. In his will he expressed a desire, that all letters of any interest among his voluminous cor- respondence should be published. The Danish edition of these letters consists of three somewhat bulky volumes, and con- tains upwards of 800 letters, from which we have made a selection such as, it is hoped, will be of some interest to lovers of Andersen in this country. It has fallen to the lot of few authors to have enjoyed so intimate an acquaintance 10 PREFACE. with celebrities at home and abroad as did Andersen. His letters to his friends have a. genuine ring about them, and most of them appear to have been written without any thought of their being published. Their great charm lies in their naturalness and simplicity. Free from affectation and constraint, the writer unburdens his heart to those he loves with the frankness of a little child. He had a longing for sympathy, and is throughout keenly sensitive of the smallest mark of esteem or regard, whether coming from the most exalted of his correspondents or from his humblest friend or admirer. Andersen was never married. The romance of his life is touchingly narrated in the following pages. Had he been bound by the ties of home, it is probable that he would not have experienced that constant desire for change of scene to which he so often alludes in his letters. Travelling seems to have been the greatest pleasure of his life. His frequent journeys were each to him as a PREFACE. I r. new lease of life and energy. At all times a keen observer of men and things, he was quick to seize upon the salient features of those with whom he came into contact, and none more ready than he to appreciate their good points. He had the eye of an artist for all that was grand or beautiful in nature, and in his intercourse with his friends there are numerous graphic descriptions of scenery which had fascinated him, either by its wonders or by its beauty. Here he is never tedious, he never exaggerates, but is always simple and sincere. These characteristics remained unchanged in him, and we find him late in life as enthusiastic in his love of nature and mankind as at the outset of his career. The good and the' beautiful in life ever appealed to his pure, simple soul, and were reproduced in his writings with a child- like impulsiveness and sincerity. A German author, speaking of Andersen, says, " First of all one must learn to regard him as a child, notwithstanding his height, then to pardon him for being one, and finally, 12 PREFACE. one learns to love him because he was a child ; childish thoughts were habitual to him, and he never laid them down while life lasted. In this lay his greatness. It is just on this account that the expression of his pure mind, his noble thoughts, and his warm heart appeals to every sympathetic soul." A perusal of the accompanying life and letters cannot fail to reveal the amiable and affectionate character of Andersen's nature, and to strengthen our esteem for a writer who has contributed so much to the hap- piness of childhood. His correspondence throughout is devoid of all cynicism, invec- tive, and the slightest trace of ill-feeling. We are here in presence of a mind remarkable for its gentleness and purity, and admirably adapted to reflect all that is good and true in this world. The publishers are indebted to Miss Georgina Hogarth for her kind permission to use those letters of the late Charles Dickens which are included in this volume. F. C. Hans Christian Andersen s Life. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. In a charming autobiography, written in his own inimitable style, with that strange mixture of shrewdness and simplicity that always characterised him, Hans Christian Andersen has left on record his experiences from his poverty-stricken childhood to his honoured old age. Though at the outset his career was the humblest of the humble — not in the " Uriah Heep " sense of humility — yet he lived to see his native town illuminated in his honour, and to enjoy the personal regard and friendship of his king. It is from his autobiography that the following outline of his extraordinary and instructive career has been taken. The spirit pervading his book is one of pious gratitude,, not unmixed with wonder, 14 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S LIFE: at the amount of success he has achieved, and the faithfulness with which his steps have been guided through' the thorny paths of a difficult world. " My life," he says, " is a pretty tale, equally rich and fortunate. If, when as a boy I went forth alone and poor into the world, a powerful fairy had met me, and had said to me, ' Choose thy career and thy goal, and I will protect thee and lead thee onward, as it must be in this world, in obedience to reason, according as thy mind shall develop itself,' my fate could not have been ordered more happily, sensibly, and prosperously. The story of my life will tell the world what it has told to me, — that there is a loving God, who orders all things for the best." And yet the writer of these words of devout thankfulness had gone through trials and afflictions that would have soured and discouraged many an ardent spirit. But the poor, friendless boy, in the darkest days of want and penury, had, like Goldsmith, " a knack at hoping ; " and, lonely and forsaken AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. 15 as he seemed, "his strength was as the strength of ten, because his heart was pure. " Hans Christian Andersen, one of the truest and most original geniuses the present century has produced, was born the son of a poor shoemaker and his wife, in the little Danish town of Odense, in the island of Fiinen, on the 2nd of April, 1805. The parents' home was of the smallest, but neat and clean ; and little Hans Christian, an only child, was, according to his own account, considerably spoilt by both his parents, but particularly by his father. The poor shoe- maker was not a happy man. His parents had once been wealthy farmer folk ; but a succession of misfortunes - had not only re- duced them to poverty, but deprived the poor ruined farmer of his reason ; whereupon the wife had removed to Odense, and main- tained her poor insane husband by the work of her hands. The great wish of her son to attend the Latin school had to be given up, and he was apprenticed to a shoemaker ; but l6 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S LIFE : though he laboured, faithfully in his calling, he was never reconciled to it, and pined re- gretfully for the things that were not to be. Thus it came about that he made a friend and companion of the little son, in whose quiet, irnaginative nature he saw a reflection of his own. He took the child out into the fields on Sundays and holidays, made puppet shows and "transformation" pictures for him, and initiated him into the delights of the "Arabian Nights." He little thought what seed he was sowing in the mind of the sensitive, imaginative, affectionate child, who thoroughly understood him. Those were the days of the Napoleonic wars, and Denmark,' to her sorrow, sided with the mighty Caesar. Andersen the shoemaker, restless and unhappy in his workshop, en- listed as a soldier in the Danish contingent, and marched away, only to return a few months later, on the conclusion of peace, shattered alike in body and mind. A burn- ing fever put an end to his life within a few days, and Hans Christian's widowed mother AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. 1/ had to keep a roof above her head by going out by the day as a laundress. " From the time of my father's death," says Andersen, " I was left entirely to my own devices. My mother went out washing for people, and I sat at home with my toy theatre, sewing costumes for the puppets, and reading plays." He got hold of Shake- speare, though "only in a bad translation" — - and wrote his first tragedy — " in which, of course, all the characters died" — besides various other pieces. His poor mother, though secretly exulting in her son's talent, saw the necessity of his doing something practical to earn money, and Hans was sent to a factory, where a number of boys and men earned a weekly wage by cloth-weaving. He could sing very sweetly, and was made to amuse the assembled toilers with his songs, while another boy had to do his work-. But a coarse practical joke played off upon him sent the sensitive lad home in tears to his mother, who promised he should never go to the factory again. The second 1 8 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S LIFE: marriage of the widow with a man younger than herself, whose relations would have nothing to do with the new wife or her son, did not improve poor Hans Christian's pro- spects. " My stepfather was a quiet young man," he writes, "who altogether declined to interfere in my bringing up, so I lived entirely for my peepshow and my puppet theatre ; and it was my greatest pleasure to collect for it coloured scraps of cloth, which I then cut out and sewed together. My mother looked on it as good practice towards my becoming a tailor, for which calling she considered me born. I declared, on the contrary,. that I would be an actor," — a pro- posal regarded with horror by the mother, whose notions of the profession were taken from the performances of strollers and rope- dancers. Afterwards the boy got a little elementary instruction at a charity school, where he wrote poems in honour of the master's birthday, and was laughed at for his pains. In due time he was confirmed, whereupon his mother insisted that he should AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. I9 be apprenticed at once to a tailor ; but the boy who, with all his good-nature, possessed plenty of quiet determination, had managed to save up a little store pf thirteen dollars, and actually prevailed on his parent to let him set out, with this exceedingly slender provision, to seek his fortune at Copenhagen. The visit of a travelling opera comedy troupe at Odense shortly before the lad's confirmation, when, by the connivance of a friendly bill-sticker, he had witnessed the performance, had convinced him that his vocation was the theatre. And now for three dollars a postillion was induced to carry, him as a " dead-head " passenger to the capital. He had but a single letter of introduction to a certain Madame Schall, a dancer, who thought he was mad, and got rid of him as soon as possible. A day or two saw him reduced to his last dollar. He made up his mind to get work at a carpenter's, but was driven away, as he had been at the factory, by the coarseness of the workmen. In his distress the idea 20 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S LIFE: occurred to him to apply to the singer Siboni, the director of the music school at Copenhagen ; and, fortunately, Siboni had a dinner-party at his house when the lanky, starving lad came and related his story. Among the guests were Baggesen the poet, and Weyse the celebrated musical composer. The boy was introduced to the company, and sang and recited poetry. Weyse was struck with his voice, and Baggeseti with his poetic feeling. Siboni promised to culti- vate his voice, prophesying that he would become a great dramatic singer some day. They made a collection of seventy dollars for him, and Siboni received him into his own house as a pupil. But alas ! within half a year, the voice on which so many hOpes were built gave way utterly, and Siboni frankly counselled the poor despairing lad to return to Odense and learn a handicraft. But he had written to his mother in a jubilant, hopeful strain, when he thought his fortune as good as made; and the idea of the ridicule he would surely en- AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. 21 counter in his native place made him resolve to remain in Copenhagen at all hazards, though he had nothing like a definite plan for the future. Some kindly people, — -Pro- fessor Weyse, Kuhlau the musician, a Colonel Guldberg, and others, — -clubbed to- gether to make up a little monthly purse for him, and he was enabled to hire a room, " which was only an empty storeroom, with- out window or light, in one of the most notorious streets of Copenhagen," where his h ird landlady made him run her errands, and domineered over him. Of the mysteries of the great city, which were daily enacted before his eyes, he understood nothing. " I was still such a child," he says, " that I played with a puppet theatre and made doll's clothes; and, to get scraps of various colours, I used to go into the shops and beg for patterns and shreds of silk fabrics and ribbons." Step by step he pursued his toilsome way upwards. In the son of the librarian of the University he recognised an old inhabitant 22 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S LIFE: of Odense, and obtained permission to read in the library and to take books home. Colonel Goldberg procured for him some tuition in the German language. He made his way into the theatre, and was allowed to appear on the stage, as an undistinguished unit in a crowd, during a market scene ; and it was a proud moment for him when he saw his name actually printed in the play-bill, when the ballet of "Armida" was produced. But the sum collected for him was nearly ex- hausted when he entered upon the second year of his life at Copenhagen. He was obliged to curtail his very small expenses, and was ashamed to confess how sharp was his misery. " I had gone to live at the house of a sailor's widow," he says, "where I only had lodging provided, and coffee in the morning. Those were bitter, dark days for me ; the woman thought I went out to dine with various families, when in reality I used to sit on a bench in the Royal Gardens, eating a small roll. It was but seldom that I ventured to enter one of the humble kind AS RELATED V,\' HIMSELF. 23 of eating-houses, and take my seat at the most distant table. I was, in fact, very- forsaken, but I did not feel the whole burden of my condition : I took every one who spoke a kind word to me for an honest friend. God was with me in my little room, and many an evening, when I had said my even- ing prayer, I asked Him, in childlike fashion, ' Will it ever go better with me ? ' " I had an idea that what occurred to one on New Year's Day would be repeated in one's life throughout the year. It happened to be New Year's Day ; the theatre was closed, only an old part-blind porter sat at the door leading to the stage, which was quite empty. With a beating heart I slipped past him, and made my way between the scenes and curtains right towards the front of the stage.. There I knelt down, and wanted to declaim ; but not a line would come into my head. Then I said the Lord's Prayer aloud, and went away fully convinced that because I had spoken from the stage on New Year's Day, I should get to speak more 24 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S LIFE: from the same place in the course of the year, and should have a part given me to play." Two years of want and misery left him sufficiently childlike in spirit to fling his arms round a tree, as round an old friend, when he managed to find his way into the Royal Gardens in spring. He wrote an- other tragedy, into which, in his innocence, he copied passages line by line out of Hol- berg ; and, when taxed with the plagiarism, replied naively, " Yes, but they're so beauti- ful ! " Little by little his fortunes began to mend. His voice came back in some meas- ure, and he was admitted among the chorus singers in the theatre. Guldberg remained his friend. Andersen wrote several plays, and offered them to the theatre, but received them back with the intimation that pieces were not wanted from writers who showed a lack of elementary education. At the same time came a dismissal by the management from the chorus and the ballet, on the ground that these could lead to nothing ; AS RELATED BY HIMSELF, 2$ but coupled with a desire that the young man's friends would do something towards procuring him the instruction, without which the possession of talent was practically use- less. " I felt, as it were, thrust out into the wide world," says Andersen, " without help and without support." The whole of that summer he went on alternately hoping and desponding. He borrowed volumes of Walter Scott, and forgot his poverty in an ideal world, often spending at the library the pence that should have bought his dinner. The tide in the affairs of Hans Christian Andersen, that was ultimately to lead on to fortune, now began to flow, just when affairs seemed desperate. The struggling, un- known genius found a true friend in Coun- cillor Collin, the director of the Theatre Royal at Copenhagen, who, discerning in the young man's tragedy of " Alfsol " many grains of gold, recommended him to King Frederick VI. The King placed him as a pupil in the Latin school at Slagelse, with a 26 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S LIFE: Stipend that was to be paid quarterly through ColHn, who was to report periodically as to the young man's industry and progress. Right well did the worthy councillor fulfil the duty of guardian to the timid, self- distrusting scholar, 'who now, a grown man, had to begin at the lowest round of the ladder of learning. "In the school I was allotted a place in the lowest class but one — among little boys," Andersen writes, "for I knew nothing at all." The years passed at the school of Slagelse by Andersen were far from happy. The headmaster or rector of the institution, a good man in many respects, was as rough as Dr. Johnson with his tongue, and perhaps unable to appreciate the pain his rebukes and jeers gave to the anxious, super-sensitive scholar, who took far too literally every re- proof, and was dismayed at the number of subjects of which he knew nothing. But Collin was a tower of strength to him. He consoled him in his despondency, exhorted him to perseverance, and prophesied a good AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. 27 result, "Don't lose courage," he wrote, in re- ply to a disconsolate epistle from the young man; "be calm, collected, and prudent, and you will see that everything will arrange itself. The rector is well, disposed towards you. His manner of proceeding is, perhaps, singular, but it leads to the goal." At length, however, the depressing life at the school in Slagelse had such an effect on Andersen's health, that Collin suddenly took him away to Copenhagen, to the great dis- gust of the rector, who angrily told his pupil at parting that he would never get so far as to be a student, that his poems would rot in the cellars of the publishers, and that their author would end his days in a mad-house. But, in spite of this lugubrious prophecy, Andersen actually became a student at the University of Copenhagen, and had a piece accepted and produced at the theatre. It was brilliantly successful ; and in a tumult of excitement and delight, the young author rushed out of the play-house to the abode of his friend Collin, whose wife was at home 28 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S LIFE : alone. He sank down on a chair and burst into tears. Misinterpreting the cause of his emotion the lady began to offer consolation, reminding him that Oehlenschlager and other great poets had been hissed in their time. " But they didn't hiss at all ! " sobbed Andersen, "they applauded and cheered." Now his brighter days began. '' I was a happy man," he writes ; " I possessed poetic power and youthful courage, all houses began to open to me, and I flew from circle to circle, but I continued to learn diligently." He took a good degree, and his collected poems were published with much success. Still there were now and then heavy clouds in his life's atmo- sphere. His over-sensitiveness took alarm at some harsh criticisms of writers, who appear to have been offended at the suc- cess of one whom they considered an inter- loper in the domain of literature. Again unhappy self-distrust got the upper hand in his mind, and Collin judiciously pro- posed that he should undertake a journey AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. 29 into Germany for relaxation and amuse- ment. Accordingly in the spring of 1831 Andersen quitted Denmark for the first time, travelling to Hamburg, and thence by Ber- lin to Dresden. The new impressions ob- tained on this first "outing" from his own land were valuable to him; and indeed there was need that he should enlarge the circle of his ideas and of his literary activity. Concerning this period of his life he writes,-— "From the "end of 1828 until 1838 I had to live by my writings. Denmark is a small country, and in those, days few books went to Sweden and Norway ; so that my receipts- could not be great. I found it difficult to get along — doubly difficult, because my garb had to be in some measure suited to the circles in which I was re- ceived. To produce, and always to pro- duce, was ruinous, nay, impossible." Ac- cordingly he undertook various tasks of hackwork, such as translations of foreign plays, librettos to operas, etc. And now, strange as it may seem, his 30 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S LIFE: own countrymen began to fling stones of harsh criticisnl at him. Just as at an early period of the career of Charles Dickens certain critics were never weary of hinting or openly asserting that " Boz had written himself out" — and this long before " Dombey " or " Bleak House " or " David Copperfield " had appeared — so there were detractors enough in Copenhagen to assert that Andersen had said all he had to say, and that his day was past. ^ Again, many were offended at the idea that one who had received no regular education until he was almost a grown man, should claim to be ad- mitted, on equal terms, to the society of learned men and scientists ; and others pro- fessed to discover solecisms and grammatical slips in Andersen's work, even when the proofs had been carefully read (this they did not know) by University professors. No one had more reason to exclaim, " Save me from my friends ! " than Hans Christian Andersen. But in contrast to these " good-natured friends" stood the Collin family. Edward AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. 3 1 Collin, one of the sons of the worthy coun- cillor, was as heartily disposed towards An- dersen as his father. " He always remained the same," writes Andersen, gratefully, "and if I had to number my friends, he would be cited by me as the first among them." The detractors, however, unwittingly did the object of their malevolence a great service. They declared to him, with insulting pertin- acity, that the only ( chance for him lay in . foreign travel ; and advised him to apply to the King for a grant from the sum annually devoted to the encouragement of men. of letters and science. Andersen took their advice, made the application, and was suc- cessful. A " travelling stipend " was awarded to him. " Rejoice, said the friends," writes Andersen. " Appreciate your boundless good fortune ! Enjoy the present, for it will pro- bably be the only time you will get away. You ought to hear what the people say because you are going to travel, and how we are obliged to defend you — and sometimes we cannot succeed in doing it." 32 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S LIFE: However, the great point was, that he did get away to Paris, where he made acquaintance with Heine, Victor Hugo, and other eminent men, and whither one of his friends despatched a letter after him — "a big, expensive letter,',' he writes— which epistle, on being opened, proved to contain a most ill-natured criticism on him and his works, carefully copied out of a Copenhagen paper, and sent to him with the postage unpaid. "On the 5th September 1833, I travelled across the Simplon into Italy," he writes. "Just on the fourteenth anniversary of tlpie day on which I had arrived, poor and helpless, in Copenhagen, I was to enter this land of my longings, and of my poetic happiness." On the 1 8th of October he arrived in Rome, where he became associated with Thorwaldsen the sculptor, and various congenial spirits, who cheered him concerning his future, and in some measure counteracted the bad im- pression made by his captious critics. His journey through Italy, in the course of which he visited Naples and saw Capri, Psestum, AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. 33 Pompeii, and Herculanseum, and afterwards Florence, Sienna, Bologna, and Ferrara, forms a new point of departure in Andersen's liter- ary career. Its immediate result was the charming novel "The Impfovisatore." The book was published, the author receiv- ing a very small honorarium for the copyright. Its success was immediate and decided. The adverse critics, though they could not at once make up their minds to bless where they had cursed, at any rate were silenced. " The book raised up my depressed hopes," writes Andersen, "gathered my old friends around me, and ' gairied me new ones. For the first time I felt that I had really earned true ap- preciation." And now critics in Germany and in England began to draw attention to the prophet who had been so scurvily treated in his own country. " The Improvisatore " was translated into German, and, by Mary Howitt, into English. A new novel, with the strange title "O. Z.," considered by many the author's best work, appeared with suc- cess ; and was soon followed by the first of 34 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S LIFE: those ' ' Tales and Stories for Children " which have made the name of Hans Chris- tian Andersen known throughout the world. "Only a Fiddler," a charming and thought- ful novel, appeared in 1837, and proved another pillar in the temple of the author's fame. A journey to Sweden, during which he made the acquaintance of Frederika Bremer, further convinced Andersen of the estimation in which he was held beyond the confines of Denmark. At home the remuneration his works brought him in could hardly be considered princely. " In my own country," he writfes, " my books belong to those that are always bought and read, and so I got a higher payment for each successive novel. But when it is considered within what narrow bounds the Danish read- ing world is limited, it may be imagined that the honorarium could not be of the richest ; still I could live, though I was sometimes pinched. Charles Dickens was greatly as- tonished when I wrote to him that ' The AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. 35 Improvisatore ' had hardly brought me in 200 marks (;^'Jo). For a long time he would not believe it." Andersen's friend, Collin, who, as the warm-hearted poet gratefully wrote, was "among those men who perform more than they promise," tried to get Hans Christian a post in the Royal Library ; but the Chamber- lain, to whose department the bestowal of the appointment belonged, refused it, on the ground that Andersen was " too talented " for the drudgery of a librarian's life. But again, good friends came to the rescue. The inde- fatigable Collin was reinforced by Oersted the philosopher ; and the two worked with such success upon the feelings of Count Von Rantzau Breitenburg, a minister of State, that a pension — not a very large one — of 200 specie-dollars (about ;^45) was procured from King Frederick VI. for the poet. Andersen was jubilant. He writes : "1 was filled with thankfulness and joy ; I was no longer obliged to write to live ; I had a sure provision for times of sickness ; I was less dependent upon 36 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S LIFE : the people who surrounded me ; and a new division of my life began." There were storms now and then, though Andersen declared that the spring of his life had commenced ; and some of the liveliest breezes came from the direction of the theatre. The poet had written, and with considerable success, for the stage at Copenhagen ; but the audiences were sometimes the reverse of good-natured ; it was considered a good joke to hoot and whistle at a piece, '•' and the fair ladies smile and rejoice, like Spanish women at their cruel bull-fights," says Andersen, plaintively. The way of judging the pecun- iary value of a piece, too, was somewhat eccentric. A man of figures had been ap- pointed director, and he introduced the fashion of reckoning the payment for a play according to the number of quarters of an hour it took in the performance, quarters begun but not completed not being reckoned in. The actors also gave themselves great airs, and patron- ised the poor poet to an almost unbearable AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. 37 extent. There were a good many crumpled rose leaves in the couch of a Danish dramatic author in those days. Nevertheless Ander- sen's tragedy, "The Mulatto," had a grand success. It was at this time he wrote his charming series of sketches, " The Picture Book without Pictures," which became ex- ceedingly popular in England under the title of " What the Moon Saw." The year 1840 brought new travels ; and this time the journey was continued from Italy to Greece and Constantinople. The story of this tour was told in a new book, " A Poet's Bazaar.'' On his way, at Leipzig, he made the acquaintance of Mendelssohn, who had already learnt to know him through his writ- ings, and became one of his best friends. In the winter of 1843 he paid a visit to Paris, and was heartily pleased at the warm welcome he received from the literary and artistic celebrities there. Jovial Alexandre Dumas received, him with enthusiasm. The courtly Lamartine spoke approvingly of the literature of the North. Louis Blanc, Victor Hugo, 38 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S LIFE: and many other writers of European reputa- tion, received him cordially as a brother and comrade ; and Rachel, at that time the acknowledged queen of tragedy, went out of her way to be gracious to the quiet, plain visitor from Denmark, who paid her such honest compliments in his very defective French. Heine, also, who was already suffer- ing from the mortal disease that rendered his life a martyrdom for years, understood and valued the simple, straightforward, self-made man of letters, and laid aside, in his favour, all his caustic wit and satire. " I did not notice in him," says Andersen, " any bitter, insulting smile, ^ — I heard only the beating of a true German heart, such as is always found in his songs, which must live. Whatever of adverse criticism still re- mained in Denmark with regard to Hans Andersen's works, was effectually silenced when the first collected edition of his ' ' Tales and Stories " appeared in 1 843. The charm of these wonderful productions was acknow- AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. 39 ledged by all. Even from the stage it became the custom of some of the best comic actors to relate to the audience a tale of Andersen. "It was a change from the de- clamatory poems that had been heard till people were tired of them," says Andersen. We should say it was. Into most European languages these stories were translated, and everywhere their success was the same. In 1847 Andersen visited England, and in his autobiography he has recorded the impressions left upon him by his journey. Crossing by steamer from Rotterdam to London, he was astonished by the aspect of ' the great river, with its shipping and craft. ''The Thames," he says, "gives evidence that England rules the seas." London as- tonished him by its vastness and evidences of wealth ; but he had also an eye for the startling contrasts of our nineteenth century civilisation, and speaks mournfully of the wretched objects he encountered in the grandest streets, standing mute, afraid to 40 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S LIFE: beg, but appealing by sad gestures and glances to the pity of the passers-by. The Danish ambassador, Count Revent- low, introduced him into aristocratic houses, Lord Palmerston's and others ; and for three weeks, during the height of the London season, Andersen, greatly to Tiis own discom- fiture, found himself sought after as a "lion." A wealthy friend took him to Scotland, where Lord Jeffrey of the " Edinburgh Re- view," Professor Wilson, and other congenial spirits were added to the long list of his friends. On his return to England, he found a hearty letter of invitation from Dickens, whom he visited at a " pretty, charming little house at Broadstear'" — (it was the famous Bleak House at Broadstairs), and who de- lighted him by appearing at Ramsgate to see Andersen off by the boat, when the poet departed for Ostend. On a later occasion he had the opportunity of improving his^ friendship with Dickens by a visit to the great novelist at Gads- Hill. The later years of Andersen's life were AS RELATED BY HIMSELF. 4I uneventful, but eminently satisfactory. His modest requirements were fully satisfied by the income he derived from his works, supplemented by the pension from the King. He came to be looked upon in Denmark as a public institution, and the King and Royal family treated him as a personal friend. In 1867, his native town of Odense voted him the freedom of the city, with the request that he would visit the place and take up his diploma. He came accordingly, and was the honoured guest of the muni- cipality in the town that he had quitted many years before as a poor boy, almost penniless, to seek his fortune. In the even- ing Odense was illuminated to celebrate his coming. The prophecy of his childhood's days was fulfilled. Andersen was never married. He died full of years and honours, at Copenhagen, on the 4th of August 1875. He had just com- pleted his 70th year. H. W. D. HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S CORRESPONDENCE. Andersen to Ludvig Laessoe. HOFFMANSGAVE, I2ith July 1830. Dear Ludvig, — Did you not say that 1 could address you thus ? Accept my hearty thanks for your friendly letter and the news contained in it. Please tell your worthy mother that she thought for certain no work of mine would appear at the New Year ; but, if she remembers, I maintained that there would. Now it looks as if I should win, because at the New Year there will be published a whole book as big as the poems, namely a poetical medley (en poetisk lydepotie for 1831). The contents will he 42 HANS C. ANDERSEN'S CORRESPONDENCE. 43 very mixed, — half poetry and half prose. Up to now I have only a third part of it ready, and it will contain the well-known — " The Man from Paradise," " A Sketch after Nature," "The Comet, 1834," and "Avis aux Lectrices." But of new things I have already " The Mermaid in Tamso," " Frag- ment of a Rhymed Epistle (Rimbrev)," both of which have undoubtedly now been pub- lished in " Flyveposten." "The Jutland Heath in Rainy Weather," " Longing with the Pots," "Phantasy at the North Sea," "Picture from the West Coast of Jutland," The Beautiful Grammatica" — a touching novel after Schopenhauer — ''Ideas for People Who Have None Themselves," — a little book of help for those who want to be poets. That is already a great lot, you see. The best of all is no doubt " Phantasy at the North Sea ; " some people here in Odense even like it better than all my poems ; but this is too much. I send it now to your dear mother, who undoubtedly has read the two small things in " Flyveposten," and if any one of the three please her, I ask, as a u 44 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S proof, that she will gladden me with two or three lines by her own hand in your letter, please. But I must not forget that you have not enough subjects for your essays.' Now I will give you six, — i. Love of Country; 2. The most important incidents in the life of Moses; 3. A fine winter's night ; 4. The relation of the fine arts to each other ; 5. The use of the printing press ; 6. Point out the places in biblical history where the woman has acted scarcely as well as she ought to have done. In reality there ought to be as a com- panion essay, one showing all the places where the men have acted nobly ; but that would be too lengthy, and therefore it is enough with the women. But I think that your good sister will, on seeing the sixth subject, say that I am nasty ! It is a bad summer, still worse than last year, — rain, and rain, and again rain ; from sheer despair I am writing for my -"Jutland Pot." Some days ago I went from Odense to Hoffmansgave, a large manor-house be- longing to Hoffman Bang. The lady of the CORRESPONDENCE. 45 house is a daughter of the late Mailing. Here are antiquities, library, curiosities, and all you can wish for. My bedroom is close to a large picture-gallery, and the garden, which is nearly two miles round, is full of flowers, of which the majority are quite un- known to me. Beyond the garden there is a stretch of about eight miles of flat country. This morning I went for a very interesting drive four miles out on a tongiae of land only a few yards wide, which is be- tween Odense Fjord and the Cattegat which rolled its black waves towards me. I stood at the utmost point and picked up a small pebble and some sea- weed. While I am writing this the nightingale is singing in the garden outside : it is late, and the weather is beautiful. To-morrow I am leaving for Odense, where I intend to finish my letter to you. It is St. Canute's Fair : there is life everywhere. But now good- night. Odense, i- 1830. Dear Mrs. Iversen, — Now we are begin- ning in the old style to chat through the medium of a sheet of paper ; how tiresome it CORRESPONDENCE. 49 is ! It is really like paying a visit with one's eyes blindfolded ; but still it is always some- thing. I miss all of you so very much, al- though I have not yet been alone in my room with my work, but flitted about from one visit to another. I was so much at home with you, and, after all, I feel to want a real home. It will take a long time before I shall settle down to my room ; in town I am already at home, though the first day seemed dull and irksome to me. But now let us have a little chat about the journey. We did not get away by the post from Odense before six o'clock, and I got under cover with Mikkelsen, and thus escaped all rain. At ten o'clock we arrived at Nyborg, and about twelve we went on board. Of course a gale sprang up — I always come in for that — and the stupid steamer stands worse on her legs than Dania. Bless me, what a passage ! The seas went over my head, and ran down under my neckerchief I promised I would not go to Norway next summer, but still now I think I shall. All the ladies were sea-sick ; but I was not, which is a so HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S great wonder ; however, had we been only a quarter of an hour longer on board, I should undoubtedly have had to pay my tribute to father " Neptune." At Slagen I parted from Mikkelsen, and kept my carriage as far as Roshilde ; but not beyond, because the road was so bad that it almost shook me to pieces : it was a real torture. The Roshilde road was in such a state that the poor horses could only drag us half-way. We were obliged to get fresh horses at the inn in Roshilde, and trudged to Copenhagen, arriving there about twelve o'clock. We were here detained a whole hour at the post-office, so there was no time to go anywhere, and I, together with a vicar, Boumman, from the neighbour- hood of Odense, went to an hotel, wheire we knocked the people up, but they would not let us in before we had shown them our passports, as they thought we had been on the spree. Next morning at eight o'clock I took a cab, went to the post-office, got my luggage, and proceeded by Ostergade home. You may be sure it was a tiresome journey ; CORRESPONDENCE. 5 1 I amused myself by thinking what all the children (pardon me, I mean the big girls) would say to this and that had' they been present. Mrs. Laessoe likes Jette very much from my description of her. Over the chocolate I told her how much the Misses Hauch were longing for town, and their poetical ideas about it, and she thought that they had the best of it, as here there were only narrow streets and towering houses, which seemed to shut us out from beautiful nature. My opera has now been finally accepted for performance, and Manthey praises it highly — -par diable! At Laessoe's they pre- fer (of my new poems) " The First and the Last." Councillor Oersted^ likes "The Mother and the Boy on the Heath " best, and Collin likes " Calm." Collin says that Molbech takes a great interest in me, and his * Oersted (Hans Christian), celebrated Danish philo- sopher and statesman, born at Rudljjobbling in the Danish island of Langeland, 14th August 1778. He was an ardent student of nature, and made in 1819 his great discovery touching the unity of electricity and magnetism. He died in Copenhagen, 9th March 1851, 52 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S influence will no doubt be of much service to me. Please let all read this letter if it will amuse them, because while I am writing it, I fancy that I am sitting in the midst of you, chatting away to my heart's content. I hope nobody is angered by the cruel comparisons, neither the "sausage with the butterfly wings," nor " Venus in the kitchen " ? These two matters cause me a certain amount of anxiety. Everybody has read Elmquist's notice of my sojourn in Aarhus, and Heiberg said to- day that he should like to go over there him- self to be received like a Rothschild. Jette Wulff- sits perhaps at this very moment on Blocksberg, for she is now in the Hartz. Last Saturday, when I left Odense, Mrs. Wexschall was parted from her husband : she is at present suffering with inflammation of the throat (partly in consequence of which she is not going to act for a month). People say that Wexschall has got permission to go abroad for some time. Miss Jorza is said not to have been a success in Dobberan, where she has been staying. Mrs. Liebe CORRESPONDENCE. 53 has retired from the theatre. The new guard-house looks rather handsome ; it has been made a storey higher, and will soon be ready. In the meanwhile the soldiers have a wooden house in the market-place. The theatre also looks rather smart in its new white-grey coat. I have read Lindsberg's piece ; it is a flat, trifling little thing, and the only reasonable part is what he quotes from Clausen : so foolish a piece is beneath criticism. Lindsberg wants us to believe that there is neither myth nor poetry in the Bible, but that our Lord wrote it him- self, and that Christ was in hell for three days to convert the heathen. There was a most select company present at the wedding of Miss Lange arid Mr. Larcher. Councillor Collin was paired with the ugly Miss Werning; Councillor Manthey with Miss Larcher the opera-dancer ; the dancer Funck with Mrs. Btilow ; etc. The poet Johannes Wildt has contributed some verses to the newspaper " Dagen," in celebration of the event. Last night (Thursday, the 2nd Septem- 54 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S ber) the theatre was opened with Oehlen- schlager's^ new comedy, "The Triplets in Damascus," with music by Kuhlau, which is said to be splendid. Kuhlau conducted the orchestra himself, and was applauded im- mensely after each number ; but only once, at the most twice, was there any applause for the comedy during the performance. It will scarcely be a good piece for the theatre, but it promises more to read it. The triplets — Baiet, Schwartzen, and Winslow junior — were made up so much like each other that nobody could see the difference. I have not yet been in the theatre, because Manthey, who should have given me the ticket; will not do so, as he says it is out of the question until my opera has been performed : the matter will now be brought before the directors on Thijrsday, and then ^ Oehlenschlager (Adam Gottlob), Danish poet, drama^tist, and friend of Goethe, Madame de Stael, Oersted, etc. He was born near Copeiihagen, 14th November 1779, and died in that city 20th January 1850. Oehlenschlager greatly de- veloped Danish literature, and gave to, it quite a new character. Some of his finest tragedies have been translated into English. CORRESPONDENCE. 55 it depepds upon Molbecb, who is on my vside, gaining the day. This Manthey is really a very unpleasant fellow, and I could almost get angry. Still he is obliged to put on airs, while he lives. Ten years after his death, he and all his glory will be for- gotten. " The Pages of the Duke of Vendome" is rather pretty : one of them is in love with the Duke's niece and serenades her ; the Duke runs after him, but he manages to escape, and though the Duke gets hold of his sash he cannot recognise him, as the Page puts on a sash similar to those worn by the other Pages, and so it goes on. Finally the Duke pursues him, while the other Pages are sleeping in the tent, and the serenader also pretends to sleep. But the Duke hits upon the good idea of feeling the hearts of all the Pages, and the one which beats strongest is the right one. That is how he is found out. Is this not pretty? I hope all ends well for the Page. I have forgotten to ask about it. Remem- ber me kindly to all, and, if you have nothing else to think about, then think of me ! Now S6 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S adieu, and thanks for the many happy days I spent with you ! If my poems have any value, then I am sure your friendly society and quiet villa have inspired a great part of it. — Yours very truly, Andersen. On Monday, between two and three o'clock, I shall be with Heiberg, and read all my new poems to him. He has promised to be a severe critic. Andersen to Henrietta Hauch. Copenhagen, 1830. My Dear Good — what dare I say ? — Good-day to all ! You cannot think with what pleasure I opened the last letter, it looked such a nice long one, and showed me so clearly the jolly Jette, who would be angry but cannot, and the natural, almost too pru- dent, Caroline. Pardon me, but it is my duty CORRESPONDENCE. 57 to write if I wish to see more of the dove with the oHve branch from the dear island home. But may I ask you, dear Miss Jette, how can it vex you to write a letter to me — vex you that you are pleasing a human being? Yes, the only reason you have is, that there was more bitterness in it than your heart would dictate ; but nevertheless it pleased me more than I can tell. You mean that I imagine myself to be unhappy. Certainly you have reason to believe it, and the world will agree with you; but remember that much passes not in the heart alone, but in reality itself, which nobody knows, and which I dare not reveal. _ Much — much has happened since I last rambled about, buoyant and full of spirits, in Tolderlund. Things have entered into my life's drama which are not phantasy. You say that besides my art and the contemplation of nature I have memory, which should fill every void ; but that is just what transforms my whole being, — my spiritual self has gained the victory, now I am a poet, and dare say it and feel it before the whole world, what- ever people may call this feeling, — 5,8 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S "Nur die Lumpe sind bescheiden Brave freuen sich der That.'' I hope you will not have a headache when you again gladden me with a letter, which I shall expect , soon. Please don't write any dashes — let your heart speak freely as I know it can. You and Caroline are, I know, the only ones who are thinking a little of me. God bless you for it ; you don't know how it cheers me ! I wish I could tell you through these silent words what a pleasure it is to me to hear from you, and thus re- call the many liappy hours I enjoyed this summer. I am well-nigh distracted- — my soul turns sick ; but away with these gloomy spirits : it is of course imagination, is it not ? But don't be angry with me if I seem a little unkind ! People are surprised at the tone of my last poems ; just think, they believe I am in love. Everybody thinks so, and I have heard the names of several ladies upon whom rumour has fastened my affection. It will perhaps amuse you and yours. Some say that she is a daughter of Elmquist in Aarhus, others CORRESPONDENCE. 59 point to a Countess Moltke in Odense, others again think that it is a Miss Hauch' in Odense. Some say it is a Miss Guldberg, others assert that it is a Miss Heckscher here in Copenhagen, while some declare it to be Miss . The last guess is rather foolish, as she is engaged, and I dare almost take my oath, that she is no more to me, than I to her. We have only seen one another for a few days, and she will soon be a bride. Oh, it is a foolish world ! Your excellent sister ought also to have had a letter to-day, but it is impossible, , and I venture to think that she will not find it .so easy to be cross, as you, at all events, threaten to be. I am now studying English and Italian, working at a new opera for Bredahl (but it is a secret). Am just about to finish another larger work, — which is also a secret, — and I '' Daughter of John Carsten Hauch, a Norwegian scientist and author, bom 12th May 1790, died 4th March 1872. He was a disciple of Oehlenschlager, whom he succeeded as pro- fessor of aesthetics at the University of Copenhagen. He is chiefly known by several excellent novels, which he produced between 1834 and i860. 6o HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S intend to take lessons in philosophy, to which I shall entirely devote myself! I am getting old, and must think on something serious. Here are a couple of poems. The one called '' The Pearl " Heiberg says is the best I have written ! If you procure the last " Flyvepost" you will find a poem, "Amor and the Poet," which has been a great success. It will ap- pear in the new Cyclus ; but your father may with pleasure put it in the paper at once, so that all may read it. Remember me to all. I have no time to read the letter over, or it would be too late for the post. In the greatest haste and with utmost esteem. Andersen. Andersen to B. S. Ingemann} New Year's Eve, 1830. Dear Professor Ingemann, — It is half an eternity since I have spoken to you and ^ Ingemann (Bernhard Severin), Danish poet and novelist, born 28th May 1789. In 1822 he was appointed professor CORRESPONDENCE. 6 1 your dear wife. Last summer I passed Soroe, but it was by post, and then you know there is no time for visits. God knows when I am coming to that part of the country again. Next summer I am going to Norway. But if I cannot pay you a visit in person, I will be with you in spirit in my new poems. I hope that they Will please you and your wife better than last year's, for these have no doubt a far deeper keynote, and, as far as the proverb is true, that ' ■ what comes from the heart goes to the heart," they will surely be well received. I look forward with pleasure to hearing from both of you as to whether I have gone forward or back- ward ; because I am sure that you will send , me a letter, as you know how much it will please me, and how much I value your good opinion. I have now commenced more earnest work : I intend to study history and philosophy, and am reading English of Danish literature in the Academy of Soroe, which position he filled until his death, 24th February 1862. His novels, which were written somewhat after the style of Sir Walter Scott's historical romances, became highly popular in Den- mark, and were translated into German and English. 62 HANS C. ANDERSEN'S CORRESPONDENCE. and Italian, in which languages I am specially looking forward with pleasure to reading Byron and Dante. The summer I have passed very agree- ably : I was a month in Jutland in most of the large towns, and two whole months in Fiinen. The fruits of this little excursion are my new poems, among which I beg 'specially to point out "The Son of the' Desert, " The Spirit of the Air," and " Life a Dream," — these three I like the best. My opera, " The Raven," is now set to music ; the first act is ready ; meanwhile I am daily working at another opera, " The Bride of Lammermoor " — a beautiful subject, you know it well— from Sir Walter Scott. My health is good, but still I don't feel happy. I am not as I used to be : I feel I am getting older, I begin to recognise in life something far deeper than I ever dreamt of, and feel that I shall never, never be really happy here. I wish you were in town, my heart is so devotedly attached to you ; your friendly sympathies would be a great comfort to me. Cheer me soon with a SIR WALTER SCOTT. HANS C. ANDERSEN'S CORRESPONDENCE. 65 letter,— a real long letter,— and when I read it I shall think I am with you and hear what you think of me and my music. Remember me to your excellent wife, and think now and then of yours very truly, Andersen. Andersen to B. S. Ingemann. Copenhagen, i8th January 1831. Dear Mr. Ingemann, — I ought to write two letters, one to you and another to your wife, as both of you have been thinking of me ; but husband and wife are after all one, and will therefore know that I am speaking to both. How clearly you have looked through my poems into my inner self, how forcibly do I feel myself drawn towards you. Yes, ^ou-^'ou will not misunderstand me, and with the more heartfelt confidence will I meet you, for I want to pour out my soul to sympathetic hearts. I am no longer as I used to be, — life, ^everything has a deeper 66 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S -meaning for me ; I am now in a position in which I feel the great whole iii all its' in- tensity, but see that I never can be happy ! I will not conceal anything from you, be- cause you can feel it, and will feel with me ! Yes, my poems are no imagination ; some- thing terribly real is at the root of them. It is so miserable that it seems almost like a bad dream. My soul and thoughts cling to but one being, amiable and simple as I never saw one before . ' , . but I feel how hideous it sounds. She is engaged, and is going to be married next month. My friends poke fun at me about my poems ; they have no idea that a deep, sad truth underlies them ; but it pains me to hear their jokes, to which I am obliged to listen and reply. I met her last summer for the first time; her family is one of the highest standing in the town, and I was at the University with her brother. !■ had only been three days in their house^ and, as I felt what I never before had felt, and heard that she was engaged, I went away at once ; but here in Copenhagen we met again three CORRESPONDENCE. 6/ weeks ago. ... I don't know, but God is too hard on me. Oh, that I were dead! Here I shall never be happy. Now you know all, comfort me. But that you cannot do — none can ! Put yourself in my position ! I shall never see her again — I ought not, and I dare not. Still I have one consolation left : her brother is for me, he knows all, and feels for both of us ; he loves us both so much, and through him I shall hear of her, but never from her ; she has bid me good-bye ! She dares not, and will not, speak to me any more, but do her duty. . . . She is so beautiful, so gentle, and good, you would love her, so would all the world, and I know she has got the same feeling for me as I have for her, and still I shall never see her again. Next month she will be a wife, and then she will and must forget me! Oh, it is killing me to think of it ! Dear, dear I ngemann, I wish I were dead! — dead! — even if death were annihilation; but it cannot be ! Life is rather a dream — a miserable, long dream. But I trouble you with my grief ! Still if, as I think, my open 68 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S confession has reached your heart, then please solace me, both of you, soon — 'Very ■ soon — with a letter. To-day I had one from Wiester, to whom I have sent my last poems ; it was so kind. Oh that I could reconcile myself to all mankind ! Do not forget me ! My heart tells me that you will write soon. — Yours from my heart, Andersen. Andersen to C. H. Lorenzen. Copenhagen, '7^*/^ February 1831. Dear Friend, — My best thanks for your kind letter, which I received only Sunday night, . or, rather, which reached my hands when I got home from a grand party, where I had only been bored. I had almost thought that you had forgotten me, so many days passed before I heard a word from you. Still I have forgiven you that, and CORRESPONDENCE. 69 also that you have lost both letters, al- though it has grieved me; because in Ingemann's there was so much out of my heart, which would appear foolish to the hard, unsympathetic world. It was written from the depths of my soul, and should not be read by anybody else ; but it is done, and cannot be helped. Do not think of it any more ; but this I ask of you, that you tell both Ingemann and Wiester that you have lost the letters, because they will think it is wrong of me that I do not answer them. Remember me kindly to both of them. Oh, you will no doubt love Ingemann when you have learned to know him. I love him dearly, and his wife is such an amiable, angelic being — just the wife for him ; and surely he is happy, — happier than a poet ever was. You have seen that some one has written in my defence as regards "Gjenganger- brevene ; " he calls himself " Davieno." The intentions of the man are undoubtedly good, but he can scarcely write poetry ; I wish it had been better. My new piece, " The 70 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S Bride of Lammermoor," is now finished as far as I am concerned, and people say that I have succeeded. Last Monday it was very jolly at the club (Foreningen) ; all enjoyed themselves. Both the saloons were lined with firs, and living sparrows were flying among" the branches. There was real spring water from the Palace in our spring. It was hardly possible to stand the noise. Fancy, the drum-major was beating two drums ; at the swings there was another big drum and cymbals ; be- sides that, three barrel organs, clarionets, violin s,and dulcimers. They were all sound- ing together. There was also " The For- tress of Frederickstein" waxworks. Punch and Judy (we had the real dolls). Our carnival ladies were so nice-looking that the professors fell in love. Agerskob was a dazzling beauty ; Philipsen was the Jew under the tree ; close to him was a " Magf- dalen home," with three Magdalens. I appeared as a Jesuit and made a speech in verse, but had not the luck to convert any one. At dinner we had several songs, CORRESPONDENCE, 7 1 of which " Ole Bangs" undoubtedly was the best ; I enclose a copy of mine. I am very glad indeed that you are content in little Soroe. It is beautiful in summer-time ; I have passed many agree- able hours there, and I hope that next sum- mer we may meet under the green trees. I am seriously thinking of my novel ; it will be the first large work I have given to the public, I am in rather better spirits ; my dear, dear . . . does all to soothe the killing melancholy which so frequently comes over me. Last year I was a gay, wandering minstrel, who ridiculed Werther, and this year I am almost the same fool. A peculiar luck has followed me all through my life (later on I shall give you an outline of, it) which has irripressed me with confidence in Providence — nay, almost led me to believe in predestination. My confidence is firm ; I know that everything leads to some good end. But still I can never be perfectly happy, I feel it so acutely, that I shall never be happy here. Life has already shown me its darkest sides ; how I wish it was all over. ^2 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S Yes, how peculiarly romantic it sounds — a thing which I detest — I do wish that I were dead! Believe me, I am not, sickening like a child without reason ; but what is the good of talking of it ? May I only keep my confidence in mankind ! No one has surely met the world with a warmer and more open heart than I did ; but surely no one has been more ridiculed for it than I have, and this has made me suspicious ; it is really hideous. Please write me soon. How is Hest } Do you like Hauch ? I know nothing of the first, and only little of the other, and I believe they know very little of me. I have written two small poems, which you will get next t'rme. People think they are two of my best ; but still they do not like them, they are too sad ; but the sad- ness is also of the poet. — Yours sincerely, Andersen. My song in the club you have surely read in " Kjobenhavnsposten," and therefore I .do not send it. CORRESPONDENCE. 73 Andersen to Mrs. Laessoe. ILSENBURG, Thursday, noon, idth May 1831. Dear Mrs. Laessoe, or all of you, — Here is my carrier pigeon telling you a little about me. I begin my letter from this place, which is at the foot of the Brocken, and shall add to it until I get to Leipzig, where I am going to post it ; consequently it will consist of disjointed fragrnents. Just fancy, the sea was calm from Almack right to the German coast, — not a soul sea-sick, — and I dined at table dhote down below in the cabin. We slept three together ' on divans, one with his legs against the head of the other ; I happened to be, in the middle, and now one of them would ask me to move my legs, the other to move my head ; I was too long for them. The Baltic was like a mirror, but the coast of Holstein was wrapped in a mist ; but this was only a curtain for the land of Canaan ; we sailed into the Trave, and the fog was behind us. 7A HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S Here was summer, all the .fields were yellow with flowers, the trees green. The river winds for sixteen miles before you reach Ltibeck, and it is very strange indeed to be on so big a steamer in so narrow a river. Lubeck is a very odd-looking and anti- quated town ; all the houses have what are called " diels," with pointed gables and carved figures. We arrived there Tuesday, at one o'clock (noon). I saw the " Dance Macabre," and the Exchange ; but of all this you shall hear more fully when I get home. The same afternoon, I, together with some fellow- travellers, took a close carriage and rolled into Hamburg ; but here my sufferings began : I had the most unbearable toothache, I had not slept the previous night, and now I had another night to travel. My toothache worried me the whole of the next day in Hamburg, and even yesterday in Geislar I had a little touch of it ; to-day it is gone. Hamburg is a very interesting town ; there are finer walks than in Cop^ihagen ; but you are not to hear anything at all about this town CORRESPONDENCE. 75 until I get home. I will only say that I saw "The Freischutz" one evening, and on another a regular show-piece called "Cardillac," after Hoffmann's tale "Miss Scuderi." The the- atre has four tiers, besides thfe pit ; and the decorations were worth looking at. In " The Freischutz," where the *' wolfs pit " is repre- sented, the wild huntsman was in brilliant transparencies, and there were "Wills o' the wisp ;" they dashed across the scene and were like clouds of the most peculiar shapes. On the 19th I was in the Botanical Garden ; but all was in full bloom ! the nightingale sang, and in the hot-houses were large bunches of grapes. I met many Danes in Hamburg. On the 2ist Ileft Hamburg by "Schnellpost" to Brunswick, through the "Vierlands," which extend for many miles along the Elbe. We travelled in a narrow dyke. It all looked like an immense garden. The cherry trees had green berries, "the window panes had pictures painted on them, pretty children were running at the side of the carriage, and offered us flowers, among them moss roses, for a couple of pence. After having passed the Elbe the 76 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S heath commenced. During the night we arrived at Luneburg, which has not a house of this century ; it was nothing else but old churches ; the moon was shining beautifully. The whole of the next day we travelled in dust and heat : six people in a close carriage, and shaken on the dreadful road, so that I felt quite as if I had been cooked and beaten when I arrived at Brunswick the next even- ing, after being in the carriage thirty-three hours ! Fancy ! It was Whit Sunday, and at dawn our carriage was decorated with' green ; it looked very nice. Brunswick is a quiet town, with old- fashioned houses. Here also I saw a show piece : " drei Tage aus dem Leben eines Spielers ; " but it was so shocking to all human feeling, that I left after the second act. The Palace was all down, with the excep- tion of a few walls, and men were at work restoring it ; the stones were split, and on a building close by, you could see how the fire and smoke had played up the wall. On the CORRESPONDENCE. 77 ruins some nursemaids were sitting singing the barcarolle of " La Muette de Portia," while the children were playing on the gravel. From a garden I could see the Hartz mountains like a thunder-cloud. Wednesday, the 25th May, I went to Geislar, a town you will know from Heine's " Reisebilder ; " here I was among the moun- tains ! Oh, I wish you had been with me ! Such a scene cannot be painted ; it is not like the sky, nor the sea, it is as if the earth were an ocean with mighty billows. I have been down the mine, it was like descending into the infernal regions : the veins were sometimes as high as a church, sometimes very narrow; they looked as if they were of metal. I went arm in arm with a merchant, to whom I was recommended. I pressed close to him, and cried out once in Danish to the guide that he should not walk so quickly with the candle. (Now surely little Dina is laughing; If she had been here she would have turned back at once.) The water rushed like thunder over our heads; it was fearfully impressive. After 78 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S having seen a part of the town, 1 went this morning (my first journey on foot) with a guide to Ilsenstein, where it is thundering just now ; but it does , not roll so fearfully among the mountains as inside them. Now my way leads to the Brocken. Brocken {same evening). Here I am sitting on Blocksberg and Writing to you in the middle of a cloud, a nasty cloud which perhaps looks very nice from below, and many a poetical genius wishes himself up in this heavenly land of the mountains ; but they should only try it ! Here is snow, the fire is lit in the stove, and I have an Englishman for my neighbour. It is quite like winter ; I have been obliged to take two glasses of punch, and I am now going to bed, therefore no more from this place. At this very moment three of the servant girls are dancing outside the window. They have, after the German fashion, flowing cloaks of cotton, and oods CORRESPONDENCE. 79 over their heads; they are gathering flowers, while light, misty clouds pass' them . like lightning; it is Hke .the witch scene in "Macbeth!" There is a party of thirty •besides the other travellers; they have brought musical instruments with them, and play delightfully. As we cannot see any- thing, I am now going to sleep to sounds of music. Blankenberg, T.'jth May. A DAY has passed since I wrote last. I am now nine stundew from the Brocken. Last night, after, I had laid my pen aside, I was called out of the house to see a curious sight. The thirty travellers had dressed themselves in comical attire, and, armed with broomsticks, etc., were dancing a witch-dance in the' fog, through which the moon now shone. I slept very well, and was called at three o'clock in the morning. Fancy my luck ! The heavens were clear, and I saw the sun rise red and large ; but the whole 8o HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S country was hidden by mist. We stood high , above the clouds, which were like a rough sea far below. The beauty of the scene cannot be described ! I wish you had been here. Later on the mist dis- persed, so that we could see forty to forty- eight miles up that part of the country. From the Brocken I continued my journey on the back of a mountain pony^ which went slowly step by step ; but it was bad enough, for it was only two paces to the precipice where the thick mist was lying like blue- white snow. From Ebingerode I went to Baumann- shohle, a stalactite cave, which extends several miles under the mountains. You could not reach its limits in a fortnight. It was almost worse to enter than the mine, for it was so very damp. Each of the tra- vellers had a lamp; I had enough to manage mine and to climb down the ladders. The stalactites had formed the strangest fan- tastical figures ; sometimes we were in a place scarcely broad enough for two, some- times we could not see the mountain wall. CORRESPONDENCE. 8 1 Among the strangers was a Dane, who said that he was a brother of Glovemaker Hansen's wife in Great King Street ; he might have been a brother of your late housekeeper ; he was no doubt a mechanic. ElgLEBEN, Sunday afternoon, 2<)th May. From Luther's birthplace, where I arrived an hour ago, I am going to finish my letter. Yesterday and to-day I have walked about forty-eight miles ; I am not at all foot-sore, but my fingers are blistered from carrying my stock.. I leave here at three o'clock in the morning by coach for Leipzig, and then on to Dresden. -I have seen an old mountain castle, Regenstein, and have sketched it with a few lines in my diary, but I believe I can explain it to you. I have been at Ross- trappe, one of the finest and wildest parts in the Hartz ; I should have liked to sketch it, but my attempt came to nothing ; it is too beautiful. To-day I walked alone twelve miles through a forest, where I only met one 82 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S human being, — a shepherd with his crook, and two big dogs. Now the remainder of my journey, except the "sachsische Schweiz," is more among people. As soon as I have finished this letter I am going to see the house where Luther was born. But now adieu. Ask Ludvig to write these three compositions : ist, Fidelity ; 2nd, Love of one's Country ; 3rd, The History of Denmark under Christian ll. ; but not word for word from other books. Ask him also to go to my landlady, and remember me to both. I shall certainly be back in three weeks' time, perhaps before (the 20th or 16th June). Ask them to send my hat to the hatter who made it — his name is inside — so that it will look nice when I get home. In Hamburg a new one will be too dear, and I have already spent a lot of money. God grant my dear second mother a happy and glad birthday ! My thoughts are there. — With a son's regards, Andersen. I expect for certain a letter from you, dear CORRESPONDENCE. 83 Mrs. L., with a few words from your hus- band, for I dare not ask for a letter from him. If you write, please let it be by the very first post after you have received mine. You can send it to BevVm />osie restante ; 1 shall possibly be at- Berlin in nine or ten days. Adieu ! Andersen to Mrs. Signe Laessoe. Odense, 7,d August 1832. It is almost an eternity since we heard from or saw one another. I must in my dreams go back to your beautiful garden by the sea ; how I am longing for all of you. How is Ludvig, Dina, and Frederick ? — I mean all the good world belonging to you. My thoughts are now in Zeeland, more than I myself am able to understand ! I am a peculiar being ! In Copenhagen I was long- ing for Funen, and here I have been longing for Copenhagen, or rather the people there. 84 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S I can never enjoy the present, my life is in the. past and in the future,, and, there is in reaUty too Httle for a real man. I have been in bad, very bad spirits here ; the weather has been dull, and the sunshine from without and within has been almost alike. I have been about a lot from one mansion to another ; still I have not been well, although I am not ill. At Lykkesholm I fear they almost made too much of me : they let me have everything for which I expressed a wish. I slept in the oldest bedchamber, where Kai Lykke had slumbered. There was a long corridor out- side, and the drawbridge just under my window. Young Mrs. Lindegaard asked to be especially remembered to you. You have many friends in Flinen ; I cannot call to mind all the ladies who have asked me to remember them to you. In a pouring rain I looked over the whole country from a .close carriage ; people said the fairies were haunting badly everywhere, and I almost fancied I could feel their cold kisses on my cheeks heated with fever. On Bramstrop we had theatricals and CORRESPONDENCE. 85 Other fun, and enjoyed ourselves splen- didly. I have also been in Sanderumgaard. The garden is beautiful, but it is absurd for people to talk so much about it. It is an " Ellemose " with walks, overladen with inscriptions. I saw here a print which in^ terested me very much. It was a rock ; you could guess that the sea was deep, deep below, but could only see where it rose, in the horizon, which was grey and wild. A ship passed far out like a point, but foremost on the rock stood Napoleon ; you only saw his back, but you knew him ; a big sea-gull hovered over him. At this moment some- thing has occurred to me which I must tell you. At Ingemann's I read a Swedish poet, Beskow — one of his productions is called "The Dying Poet," whom people ask if he does not feel, happy at the thought that his name and fame will so gloriously survive him, and he answers, " Do you believe that the swan soaring towards the sun thinks of the little shadow its wings^ throw upon the waves beneath ? " Is this not beautiful ? A 86 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S noble idea like this satisfies and refreshes one. When my stay in Fiinen was drawing to a close I passed a few days at Hoffmansgave ; we made a real carnival of it. We disguised ourselves and sailed out into the Cattegat, made up a fire, and boiled some coffee. I was studying botany, walked aboutand atecherries : it was splendid. Kirchheiner and Nielsen have each given an evening entertainment in Odense ; I was present. Nielsen recited "The Heart-Thief" beautifully. It is a pity that Mathias Wirither's dis- graceful behaviour towards all Guldberg's people should have cast a gloom over the whole family. They are all fretting about it, and cannot hide it. To-day Winther has arrived at Odense in a close carriage in all his pomp. People are very much afraid of him. What do you think of the death of the young Duke of Reichstadt? Of course, he was poisoned by those horrid Jesuits ! The weather has not favoured me. What a summer! One must get into a Russian bath to drive the cold out. One suffers from the ague as well as CORRESPONDENCE. 8y catarrh, and will not be able to stand it much longer, and then the winter comes on stealthily and puts one into the winding sheet ; and the worst of it is that this is a contagious disease, so that the same fate may be in store for all of us, and it is really not at all nice for a mind which is not longing for a bed under the green sward, where the bed-curtains are made of planed boards. The first part of this letter is written in Fiinen as you see ; but I was not quite equal to finishing it ; I have therefore been obliged, to put it in my portmanteau, and am concluding it at Norager, .where I arrived last night. J hope here to finish my " Months." Up till now I have only March ; but it is a success. Of small poems I send you a little trifle, "The Rose." But adieu. I hope soon to see you and yours all well and happy. Perhaps the summer will have come when I arrive ; some surnmer we must have. Remernber me to all. — : Yours truly, Andersen. 88 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN's Bishop Esaias Tegndr to H. C. Andersen. OSTRADE, 2>^st December 1832. Not long ago I had the pleasure of receiving the letter with which you have honoured me. As it is dated the 15th October, it must have gone far out of the way before it reached me. I take this occasion to remark that the safest address for me from Copenhagen is via Malmo, where my eldest son takes the greatest care of everything which my Danish friends have the goodness to send me. I cannot thank you sufficiently for the friendly letter and the poems which accompanied it. The former evinces a confidence in me which I know how to value, and the latter give evidence of the foundation of talents, which, once concentrated, will undoubtedly redound to the honour of your country.^ '^ Tegn^r (Esaias), celebrated Swedish author, born 13th November 1782 ; son of a clergyman. In 1824 he was ap- pointed Bishop of Meno,—- died 2nd November 1846. His first great poetical work, "Svea" (181 1), was crowned by the CORRESPONDENCE. 89 On the one side, it is delightful to see the progress and the cultivation of poetry among a neighbouring people who sing in a northern tongue, just as one would re- joice in the advancement of a relation ; but on the other hand, the comparison is too humiliating for us Swedes, who cannot be compared with our nearest related race either in poetical range or quality, and are only capable of a few lyrics. The great poetical talents are truly always natural gifts. The Creator bestows them freely or niggardly as he will ; they are consequently of an accidental nature, and can be counted upon no more than happiness or the other gifts of Heaven. But with us also the promise of good, even of great, ability, is not wanting ; only the pity of it is that it most frequently remains merely a promise, and rnost of us weary of the race at the beginning. There is a restless craving in Academy. Among the best of his numerous small poems are " Charles XII.'' and the "Song to the Sun." His renown, however, rests chiefly on his " Frithjofs Saga," which has been translated into almost every European language. 90 HANS CHRISTIAN. ANDERSEN'S the Swedish blood to begin much and complete little. External stimulants are also absent, from the : want of general cul- ture ; and encouragement on the part of the Government injures more than it aids, for it generally consists in drawing distin- guished authors away from their own orbit, bedizening them with stars and ribands, and placing them in offices of the Church and State where it is impossible for most of them to lead a purely literary life. By this means our literature is certainly not what it should be, nor even what it could be; and' our neighbours on the other side of the Sound,, with the same means and culture,, but a smaller population, excel us by far, not only in the North, but also in Europe. As far as I am personally concerned I scarcely count myself still among the literati of my country. My severe illness — stone — which chains me to my bed for the greatest part of the year, bows not only my body but also my mind, and robs me of all pleasure in life. The physicians advise eORRESPONDENCE. 9I me to use the Bohemian baths; but that would be a long and expensive journey, and I consider it far better to die in my own country, where it is at least cheaper. But my bowed spirit still rejoices in Northern poetry and culture, and greets with fraternal joy the rising stars of our Scandinavian sky. I beg you to greet Oehlenschlager for me, of whose domestic anxieties I have heard, and which I deeply deplore.. I also desire to be remembered to my other Copenhagen acquaintances, Mliller, Mynster, MoUer, Clausen, Magnussen, and others. — With friendship and esteem, E. S. Tegner. Andersen to Ludwig Muller. Paris, the 14M May 1833. Here I am at last! I wish that you also were here, my dear Ludwig i Paris is the 92 HANS CHRISTIAN ANBERSEN S place! ! Berlin, Hamburg, and Copenhagen, all of them are nothing. I have now been here five days, and already feel at home, and can find my way about quite easily. But you must hear a little about the journey from Hamburg. It was a regular gallop, and I will write in the same style; so now please follow me. It rained in torrents till we arrived at Hanover; here "la grippe" had seized on the citizens, and the weather was villainously cold ; still I visited the Obelisk and Leibnitz's monument' On the heath we met swarms of women with children on their backs : whole families emigrating to America. We saw a car full of young girls > among them were two Jewesses who wept and laughed in bidding farewell to their home and an old Jew. In Cassel nothing was as yet green ; still I walked about Wilhelmshohe, where the water leaps and dances like a trained dog. It was only when we got near Frankfort that the trees were green ; it seemed like the height of summer. It is an interesting, cosy town, and has something about it which CORRESPONDENCE. 93 pleases my poetical soul. I walked about the Courlander, and visited the Jewish quarter, where Baron Rothschild's mother still lives amongst the Jews, as she,' with pious superstition, refuses to leave the house where her sons made their fortune, lest fortune should cease to smile upon them. The baron has a delightful garden outside the town ; it is lighted by gas, and the mansion itself is built in the Eastern style. I visited the composer Aloys Schmitt, who asked me to write a libretto for an opera ; I asked him to excuse me as I did not know German well enough. To this he replied that he would wait, and would be satisfied with an outline which another could finish. It was, important for him to get a subject from a young, ardent soul. He wrote some of the music of his latest opera in my album; and I got a similar memento from the celebrated Spohr, in Cassel. Saturday, the 7th of May, I went to Mainz. The road was occupied by cavalry; beacons were erected which could be lighted as soon as there was any move- 94 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S ment in Frankfort, where there seemed to be great excitement. Sunday morning I started on my Rhine trip, the weather was so beautiful ; the skies were bluer than I had ever seen be- fore, but still I was not struck by the country ; I had expected much more. The mountains are not high, and the vines were without leaves ; but the Rhine itSelf is grand and broad, and on each bank were the ancient ruins of castles and interesting relics of a by-gone age ; they seemed to look down so sadly that a strange feeling came over me. The whole trip appears to me like a fairy tale, a motley dream of antiquity. But -the journey to Paris soon brought me into reality ; there was so much bother with our passports, so many examinations and scrutinies, that I got almost tired of the whole journey. The portmanteaus were opened almost half-a-dozen times, and in every town we were surrounded by the police. France is, however, very much like Denmark, only there is such an awful lot of chalk in the soil, especially in Champagne. CORRESPONDENCE. 95 Here we drank champagne at a dollar (2s. 3d.) a bottle ; but still I should not like to live here, , even if the wine was dispensed free. There were fifteen of us inside the carriage, and three or four outside, besides all the luggage ! Fancy what a turnout ! I n a small French town the horses went mad during the night ; they kicked and snapped at one another, neighing dreadfully all the while. The ladies cried out, "Holy Mary, pray for us." I prayed very softly: " O Lord, if an accident is to happen, let me break my neck." The horses then bolted, but were soon stopped, and got a good thrash- ing, which, I thought, they well deserved. Metz is a large, imposing town, very much like Hamburg. I was half asleep when we reached Verdun, so I cannot say anything about it, except that we all got into a large kitchen, where we had some milk with a drop of coffee in it, which the French call caf&. Friday, the loth, we arrived in Paris covered with dust and parboiled by heat. At the banriere we were surrounded by the police ; they were looking for some one in the car- 96 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S riage, but did not find him. Of Paris we could see nothing for dust before we got right into the town. The impression was very bad — narrow streets packed with houses- I went to two hotels, but all the rooms were occupied ; at last I got a little closet in the Hotel de Lille, but it was very dear. My window looked on to the Theitre Vaudeville ; I went to bed in the afternoon, because I had been travelling for five days at a Stretch from Mainz. About mid- night I was awakened by a dreadful noise. Everything was in flames about me. I jumped out of bed, and now I saw a thunderstorm, >,the like of which I have never seen , before ; the rain poured down; people were leaving the theatre and shout- ing out for their carriages, which were rumbling in a race with the thunder. Flash followed flash ; but I went to bed again, I was so tired. , When I awoke the next day Paris looked quite different. I met all my countrymen at Lieutenant Dinesen's : there was the theatre 'painter, Troels Lund, Feddersen, Sager ; the naval officers were CORRESPONDENCE. gj Dockum and Bjelke ; Jespersen and Cas- tenskjold' (gentlemen of the bed-chamber). We went at once to the Artillery Museum, where we saw models of the war material used at the siege of Antwerp. I have visited the composer Cherubini, for whom I had brought some music from Weyse ; and have been in the glorious old Notre Dame, which is grand and impressive. The light streams through many-coloured windows ; pillars carry the vaulted bays right up to the heavens. There was no rhass. The Parisians will not pay for it, and the cathedral is in that respect entirely like a Lutheran church. In the" choir I saw a priest, who was reading to some children. Last night I was in the Grand Opera and saw "Gustave" (the Swedish Gustave IIL) ; it was dazzling. You ought to see it. Now I know what decofatio.ns are ! In the third act you saw Stockholm by' moonlight : the moon was reflected in the water, light clouds were floating in the air, and you really looked up into God's blue skies' ; there was snow lying over the whole floor of the 98 HANS. CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S theatre— it, was no decoration, it was reality — the grand, beautiful reality. The whole house applauded! ■ And then, the, mas- i querade in the la^t act ! No, it is im- possible to describe it. I counted thirty lustres and twenty chandeliers. There were no side scenes and no side galleries. I believe there were , four to five hundred masques. I had also the rare luck to see the French Queen at the play; she is not pretty, but very fair. The Swedish costumes were correct enough. The opera was closed by a dance. Everything was very charming. But now to something else. How is the proof-reading of my poems getting on ? Will it soon be finished ? I have pro- mised Oehlenschlager some contributions to " Prometheus ; " I think I shall write some- thing about the opera here when I have seen a couple more : remember me to him. Write soon to me, and send the letter through the Embassy ; it will then not cost anything. Do tell me when Otto^ is coming. I shall be his guide, and can also, perhaps, 1 Ludwig Miiller's brother. CORRESPONDENCE. 99 be of some service to him in an economical sense. The journey alone in three weeks has cost altogether seventy species (about ;^i5) ; it is well done, my countrymen say, and the expenses are also according to my plan. I have not forgotten a single thing during the whole journey, but I h^ve had all my wits about me, and I find that I have done very well. I am certainly a sensible man ! — although you scarcely believe it. But now adieu, my dear, dear Ludwig. How I am longing for you ! Still I am not home-sick. I often fancy that I am at home, and then I speak Danish to the waiter. Remember me to Otto and Bangs. — Yours truly, Andersen. My address is Hdtel Vivienne, Rue Vivienne, No. 14. Andersen to Ludwig Miiller. Paris, 31^^ May 1833. I AM still without any letter from you, and none from Edward ! What can 1 lOO HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S think ? I who love you so dearly, and who have such faith in your true friendship ! There must be some reason for it of which I am ignorant. Last Monday I expected a letter for certain. When I got home from dinner there was one for me ; I seized it with joy, but it was a mere cover with the " Kjobenhavns Post," in which there are some impudent verses about me. The author was afraid that I should not hear anything about them, and he has sent it un- stamped. There must have previously been some verses in my praise, because such seem to have been the cause of this. It was the first letter I received. It is so paltry to pursue me thus in a strange land, and it astonished me for the first moment. After that I despised the matter, and have now almost forgotten it ; but I am longing all the more for a letter from my friends. Other- wise I am getting on very well in Paris ; I like the town, and like it more the longer I stay here. The fashion here is loose enough. All is shown without any drapery ; and you get used to it, so it does not offend. The CORRESPONDENCE. lOI most sensuous pictures, often very piquant, are to be seen in the streets. What really offends me most is that even holy subjects are made vulgar. I am far from being prud- ish : I can stand and look at a frivolous picture, but even in the sensuous there ought to be some decorum. Some pieces- are played at the Vaudeville Thditre which would never do in Copenhagen, except per- haps in the Students' Club. ... I dare almost say that innocence has scarcely a domicile here in Paris ; she is certainly only a voyageMse en route, and as such is easily brought into a dangerous position. At least her ears and eyes are poisoned, and then she gets at all events a little damaged. This is the dark side ; Paris has sunshine in all other respects. Everybody's thoughts are free and advanced, and intellectual development has reached a high level. I have had to write this letter to you at short intervals, my dear friend, and it is therefore much shorter than I wished. I am feeling ill, but the best of it is that it is an illness from which all strangers suffer, and is I02 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S caused by the drinking water taken from the river. Last night I fainted in my room, but I came to without any assistance ; however, it made me anxious. I went to bed ; vomited the whole night and morning. To-day I have been obliged to keep in- doors, take pills and drink port wine, and my stupid stomach has cost me two species (9s.). At first I thought I had the cholera, and felt very strange ; but I have the fixed idea that I am going to die out here. I commended myself to God, thought of all of you at home, and submitted myself to fate. They say that most people suffer from drinking this hard water. I hope that my sufferings will soon be over. The Danes have visited me faithfully. Sager tried to amuse me, and Schram and Dinesen told me funny stories. Brondsted wanted to send me his doctor, but it is so expensive, and there is no danger. If I could only sleep to-night ! I was in Ver- sailles the other day. What splendour ! How imposing ! Under the terraces there are arcades, where the oranges are kept CORRESPONDENCE. 103 during the winter ; the gates would be an ornament for Copenhagen. Immense sums of money are spent on the many grand fountains. The little Trianon was of greater interest to me than all : here Napoleon lived, and here he' parted from Josephine, I was in his bedchamber ; secretly I touched the steps to his bed and the pillow. The soldiers pushed in to see these relics, and stood there silent, but there was enthusiasm in their eyes. It made a great impression on me. I have seen the French Que6n in the theatre, but not the King. You can, however, see caricatures of him every- where, — here as a peer on horseback, there as a juggler who performs with a pistol, etc. I have been in the Chamber of Peers and that of the Deputies — the former was the more interesting where old Lafayette shines. But now I cannot sit and write any more, and Sager goes away to-morrow at six o'clock ; therefore adieu ! Let me soon have a letter. Remember me to your 104 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S parents, your brother and sister, Miss Snell, Otto, and Thyberg. Jette will soon get a letter frqm me. Adieu! If I die, then, let Edward print my " Recollec- tions " (Memoirs). My last thought will be with you. — Your faithful friend, Andersen. I wish that you and Edward were here ! I should like to see you once more. Andersen to Christian Voigt, stud, theol. Paris, 26th June 1833. You think of me ! You alone of all of them, faithful soul ! I have been away from Denmark for two months ; but have not received a single letter, excepting one, which was waiting for me from Jette Wulff. Think what it is to be so far away in a foreign land and forgotten by, all you love ! Edward has not sent me a word — no one, no one but you. CORRESPONDENCE. 105 It has pained my innermost soul ! You are, at least, my faithful friend [ Long ago I wrote to you from Paris, and you ought to have received my letter before you posted yours; but it does not appear to have reached you. I addressed it to Ludwig Miiller, as I did not know your address. I write to you at once, to thank you as a brother ! Four times I have read your letter through ; it was so dear, so interesting, so loving, that all the bitterness I feel about' those at home, — whom I love, and who have forgotten me, — now turns into sadness. In nine days you will have this letter ; I shall then seem to be with you, sitting on the sofa behind the red curtains, talking openly to each other, as in the olden days, before so many clouds passed over my heart. I am very much changed, all say so ; the actors think I am rather paler, but more of a gentleman. People are always polished up a little in Paris, even in the bearing, — and that was bad enough at home. I am getting bolder and more determined, but in my heart am surely still the same. Io6 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S How can I give you an idea of my life here! Well, I will just tell you how a day is passed. Last Sunday I walked about in the streets the whole day. Let me describe that day. You are now with me high up in my large room ; the floor is of flagstones, white curtains round the bed, two chests of drawers, sofa, arm-chair, etc. We are now going dowristairs, but keep hold of the bannisters, because every step is of flagstone, and it is easy to slip. We are down now, and the old porter says, ^^ Bon jour,''' and we get out from the hotel into the Rue Vivienne. Shop after shop, finery and pictures, sausages and meat in festoons — there is business done in every house in Paris. We are now entering a " passage,"— that is to say, a street paved with flagstones, and a roof of glass (just as if Ostergade had a glass arch,- and " Peer- madsens Gang " a floor and roof). The shops are splendid ; all that one's heart can desire, is to be had here,, even so low down in the scale as the non-platonic love. We now enter a street to get over into a CORRESPONDENCE. 107 smaller passage, which leads to the Palais Royal. It is a beautiful palace, with splen- did shops in the colonnades. In the middle of the' court is a fountain, surrounded by a garden which swarms with people. This was my morning's walk to the , cafe, where I read the papers, and then wan- dered through about fifty streets lined with shops, equal to Copenhagen multiplied by four. I stop at the Place de Bastille where there is an enormous elephant, which, however, is only a model for a bigger one, which is to be erected in the " July days." Hence I walked through a new quarter — St. Antoine — where just now several assaults have -been comniitted (two persons have been murdered and thrown into the Seine). I am now on the Pont d'AusterHtz, from whence I can- not even see the end of the town. Then I enter the Jardin des Plantes, where there is a grand show of wild beasts — this is free : there are lions, tigers, and bears in the pits ; elephants are walking about ; giraffes eating the tops of the trees — in I08 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S fact, a whole Noah's Ark. From there I wander through a labyrinth of streets, where the houses are standing packed one against the other. Dirty boys lying on the ground playing cards, rough men and wild women are playing at ball. Victor Hugo has given a masterly sketch of them. At last I crossed the Seine to the island, the real old Paris, and visited Notre Dame, the most imposing building I know,— many coloured glass windows, high arches, and grand pictures. There were certainly more than sixty priests from eighteen to seventy years old, who behaved in the most affected manner, and people were running in and out. It is now two o'clock ; I trot home, about as far as from Vesterbro to Toldboden. Now for the boulevard. . . . But I see that I shall not have room to tell you of more than half the day of my wanderings, and what I have written will scarcely give you any idea of the greatness of, Paris, its variety and interest. I have been introduced' at the " Europe CORRESPONDENCE. I09 Littdraire, " a sort of Athenaeum iov dels esprits. I had resolved «osie restante ; it must not be paid for farther than Hamburg, then it will be safer. Do not fail, you have no idea how much good it will do me. When once I CORRESPOKDENCE. 1 35 am at home I hope you will be satisfied with me, and you shall never see the old sorrowful face. I am very happy, and mean to be so. Good-bye, good-bye. With the feelings of a son. — Yours, Andersen. Herewith an anemone gathered from the grave of Virgil at Naples. Andersen to Miss Henrietta Wulff. (Rain, slush, and fog,) , 1 6th March 1835. My Dear Tender- Hearted Sister Jette, ■ — You will see by the date that this letter is written in our dear fatherland, and in Copenhagen. For five months I believe we have not seen a clear atmosphere : I hardly know what blue is like, only it happens to be the colour of my overcoat. Drink in long and deep draughts of the air out there, that you may be fortified when it is your fate to return, 136 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDKRSEN's I thank you for your dear but rather short note. You know I am long and big —I want more food-— but it may come ; therefore I write to-day this long epistle, in reality the first I have written you since my, return here. I know not the reason, but it certainly must be in the air ; it puts a dampness on everything, : and as I have now used up all the Italian air and fire 1 brought home with me in poetical work, my friends are neglected. But do you know what work I have done .'' — written a novel, " The Improvisatore," in two parts, in all about thirty sheets, and a little drama in two acts, " Liden Kirsten," which is accepted for performance next month (the music arranged by Bredal), and also some fairy tales for children, of which Oersted says, that if " The Im- provisatoire " gets me renown, " the fairy tales will bring- immortality," as they are the most finished I have ever written. But I do not think so. He does not know Italy, and so cannot rejoice at the familiar air the novel spreads around me, I know that you CORRESPONDENCE. 1 37 in cold Denmark will love my " Improvis- atore," and exclaim with all who have been in Italy, — " Yes, there Andersen has been at home.'' It is hard, though, to have to live so far from one's real home, but I shall return to Italy almost for certain in about four years' time. My first five-act drama will pay the expenses of my journey. Weyse is finishing " Kenilworth," and Hartmann is ready with " The Corsair," by Hertz ; it will be performed within a week.' Of Hertz you hear nothing, he writes in seclusion. Our celebrated countryman, Paludan-Mueller, whose genius is, as your mother sa:ys, universal, has given us a new poem, " Zuleimas - Flugt " — delicious verse. I consider it one of his most poetical works, but yet a failure. It does not meet with general favour. Just now a novel, " Min Broders-Levnet," is being much read and talked about; it is brilliantly written, interesting, but very loose morally ; all the women characters are very reprehensible. One does not learn to admire the author or the circle in which he has 138 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN's lived. This is Carl Bagger. I do not wish my countrymen in Rome to know exactly my opinion, as Bagger is engaged to a Miss Fiedler, whose brother is, or soon will be, in Rome. He is a friend of mine, and I beg you to give him my kindest greeting. We are flooded with literature of the ordi- nary sort. A new novel, called " Gordon," will run in eighteen numbers of the " Flyve- post." The author is quite new and anony- mous ; but I am one of the few in the secret. Oehlenschlagef has written a new tragedy, "Socrates." I suppose you know I have seen his " Robbers in Terracina." It was hissed— only what it deserves ; it is wretched stuff. To judge by that, he has never been in Italy, and was never a poet, and both are indisputable truths. The description he gives of Italy is only the shady side, — bad food, wooden chairs, heat, and God knows what — the awful brigands ! Why, there are no more there than in England. On the King's birthday we saw a drama by Hoist ; it was bad, and it was hissed, CORRESPONDENCE. 1 39 After that, a pretty little piece by Heiberg, <'Alferne," after Tieck's "Die Elfen." It is the bpst I know of Heiberg's poetry. Now you know that on a birthday performance the public does not express its opinion, and thus people get mixed in their judg- ment. The Court liked the first, and con- demned the last as only fit for a theatre at Vesterbro. That was the opinion for the moment. I declared at once the first piece to be rubbish, and the second a master- piece ; and I said both to high and to low, " The fault lies with the nation, it has no imagination, and cannot understand fairy- land." It was thought daring of me, but Oehlenschlager said the same, and , I re- peated it to several students. Three days afterwards the whole city said : " Hoist's is bad, but Heiberg's is wonderfully beauti- ful." I could mention many who thus altered their opinion, but as we know them too well we will say no more about it. I have made a new acquaintance. One day a servant came from an old lady, Mjss 140 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S Biigel, with an invitation ; I said it must be a mistake, but the servant came back again, so I accepted the invitation. The old lady overwhelmed me with kindness. God knows how long it will last; it is only a mood., Lately she made me a present of a pretty- French dressihgrgown, with red roses and a silk belt ; then she sent an- Italian fogliette with sweet wine, first one and then another. On my last invitation the servant was sent to ask me what were my favourite dishes, and when I replied I was unwell, she sent me a powder. Now everybody says I am going to marry her ; it is a very good parti, but I cannot accept it. I should then have too many step-children. From the papers I suppose you have heard of David's case, of the' petitions, and the King's answer ? The mother tells me not to write anything to you about it, so I will not. When you return you will hear people talk ; they seem to think you have been away ten years. Apropos, Miss Biigel asked me to sqnd CORRESPONDENCE. I4I her regards to Thorwaldseri, she knew him in Rome. I add my own greeting to hers. I hope he has not forgotten me. On March 8th we had a Roman feast, at " Borgerdyden," Christianshavn, where all who had been in Italy met. It was exactly like a Roman inn. We had Roman lamps on the table, and the room was decorated with views from Rome ; a wreath was hung around Thorwaldsen's portrait, and we had ivy crowns on our heads ; pity they were rhade of stuff. There I met the youngest, Roman, Moldenhawer, and heard of you. There were several tedious guests, or rather people, I did not care about. When the health of Thorwaldsen was proposed, a song of my composition was sung. You cannot imagine how I am longing for Italy! The fresh air, the rich colours, the whole luxuriant nature, the picture galleries, the songs of the beautiful people. Have I not shouted like a child in the orange gardens of Molo di ~Gaeta, and devoutly believed with the Catholics in 142 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S miracles, when I saw the Grotta Azurra a): Capri, the most lovely Italy possesses. In my dreams I am often again by the melancholy Lake of Nemi, where the ancient planes grow, whfere the rich and fruitful vine winds itself among the branches. Often my thoughts wander to the beautiful goddess in Florence, — the Venus di Medici. The artist has so shaped her eye that she sees — -the marble has looked into my soul. Still do I hear the song of Malibran, it was a heart dis- solved in melody ; I hear the singers in the Sistine Chapel, it sounds like angels weeping in melting harmony. Oh ! dear Jette, how empty and cold it is here, in our north. Italy is my home ! I would live at Naples, where the moun- tain burns, where the sea is blue as our winter sky, where the balmy air is wafted from the home of the palms and orange groves. Now I have the willow for the olive, I have the yellow apples in the peasant's garden for the yellow orahges, the gfreen Baltic for the blue Mediter- CORRESPONDENCE. I43 ranean, Zrza for Malibran, — that is the best we have! My stay in Italy was spoilt by my friends at home. Would I could do my journey over again, then I would revel in delight as the bee sucks honey from every flower 1 But I shall certainly go there again, and if I die, I shall haunt Italy, the great Colosseum, the Vatican^ and Capri, that paradise on earth ! In my new novel you will see the blue grotto described. Professor Kruse, who is already working on the translation of my book, says that I am the greatest painter ; and Oersted says I ought to use the brush instead of the pen. But now about other things, You know Lottie Phister is dead ; what a rare, short, fluttering life ! Ingeborg Drewsen has had the small-pox for seven weeks. The doctor had given her up; she has suffered much. Thank God she lives. She sends her love. All who visit her now have been vaccinated for fear of con- tagion. I alone have not; I fear neither 144 HAJNS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S contagion nor death. I feel no joy in anything, neither do I feel any grief. Believe- me I am perfectly calm.. Your brother Christian is a pearl. - T love him from my heart ; tell him that from me. Many hearty greetings from Mrs. Eaessoe, and Liidwig Muller, Collin, and several mutual friends. As I am, writing this, I receive a letter from the translator of my novel, in which he says the publishers want a different title for the German edition from the Danish " Improvisatore." Can you suggest one ? Which is the better, " The Boy from the Roman Campagna," or " The Blue Grotto of Capri " ? One of these I suppose it will be. Bid Bodtcher keep his promise to write to me. Or am I already forgotten in his heart ? Best regards to Kuchler, Petzholdt, and the other countrymen, especially your brother.^From your poet-brother. H. C. Andersen. Herewith a leaf from your own garden. CORRESPONDENCE. 1 45 Andersen to Count Rantzow-Breitenburg. Copenhagen, December 1837. Your Excellency has been so kindly sympathetic towards me, and has evinced so much interest in my v/elfare, that my deepest gratitude has been awakened. I feel the need of approaching you, for, as I have already told , you, I require your interest and assistance, which makes the distance between us doubly great. May a happier turning point occur in my life ! Although you have given me permission to write you, you will excuse me for addressing you on this subject ; it would certainly be more suitable by word of mouth ; but this is impossible, and you will therefore pardon me.. Just now I feel greatly encouraged, as I am getting much better known in foreign countries than I had ventured to hope. A French translation of the '' Impro- 146 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN's visatore" is being done in Paris, and will appear at the beginning of next year. This is a great honour for me, and I am thankful to God for it. The world's re- cognition of my talent at once awakens in my heart the deepest gratitude ; at the same time I am tortured by misgivings lest I should not be able to accomplish something greater, or even to make steady progress. I feel the power of youth in me, and can produce something better than I have yet done ; but my school is life. I must rove about in it- It is neces- sary for me to travel again ; but this I cannot do yet. In the pages of " Litera- ture and Amusement" they wrote that it was praiseworthy and truly kinglike of Frederick VI. to enable men of talent to travel, and they flatteringly added that I had shown the fruits of such travelling. A new trip would, I believe, do still more for me, but this I dare not hope for. The King is not acquainted with me, and has no idea of the nature of rriy work. Treasures also lie in books; I need a CORRESPONDENCE. 1 47 certain quietude to produce more, to enable me to gain fresh strength to do honour to myself and my native land ; but I am obliged to write to live. You know that we have already talked about it together, and you were sympathetic enough to lead the conversation to it. I feel that you can be of great help to me, but I shall fall to the ground if nothing is done. I should be safe if I had four hundred ryksdaler'^ yearly, till I have made a way for myself I am convinced that the King would grant me this if he knew me, — if he rightly understood me as you do. My friends have told me that I should seize this opportunity ; my need of assistance is indeed pressing. The poet, Professor Hauch of Soroe, has written a petition for me, and begged me to copy it and send it to the King ; but it is im- possible ; I cannot describe my impecunious position to the King, and how should he know that I deserved his favour ? Another must tell him, and the only one I know, ^ Danish thaler = 4s. 6d. 148 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN's and in ' whose heart and tact I feel con- fidence, is yourself. The happiness of my whole life, and my future activity, I leave in your hands. Say to the King just what I know you have so kindly said about me to others. Do not refuse this request ! Believe that there is some worth in me, and espouse my cause. I will not trouble you in this way again. You shall be honoured by me with God's help. I cannot present my petition to the King and tell him who I am ; and of what use would it be ? Nay, may I give it to you ? If you will see that it reaches the. King's hands, and put in a good word for me, you will indeed , have helped me. Do not refuse me. A refusal, however pleasantly worded, would destroy every hope in this direction. I should then be able to do nothing more, and my work would be at an end. I know how much I ask of you, but my life's happiness is at stake. Lay my petition before the King, and with God's help you shall neVer be ashamed of me! With anxiety and CORRESPONDENCE. 1 49 disquietude I await your reply as to Whether I may send you the petition ! The dear God has always been merci- ful to me, — what was best for me has invariably happened. He may perhaps appeal to your heart better than I can. — Faithfully yours, H. C. Andersen. Castelli^ to Andei'sen. Vienna, yth August 1838. My Very Worthy Friend, — I avail my- self of the opportunity of Busch returning to his native land to send you rriy sincere thanks for your last work, "A Fiddler," which was sent me. It does me good to see that you still remember me some- times. You are constantly in my thoughts, ^ Castelli (Ignace Frederick), Austrian poet, born 6th May 1781, in Vienna. He was the-author of many operas and dramatic plays, and died 5th February 1862. I 50 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S and the fairy tale of the heart's-ease always occurs to me whenever I see that little flower in bloom in my garden. " The Fiddler " is really a compilation of incidents from your own life. It in- terested me greatly, as well as your additional short biography. The poor Danish boy has become an able man. Good luck, dear friend ! Go forward un- dauntedly, the goal can neither be stalked, bought, nor begged, but it can be vic- toriously conquered, — conquered through fighting ; you are the man to do it, and your works have already made their way in Germany. Only a few days ago Grill- parzer told me that your last novel had pleased him very much, and expressed a wish to read your " Fiddler," which I have now lent him. In it, among some rather mysterious additions, you have thought kindly of me, for which I am grateful to you. If you have any fresh poems, or perhaps a short story of a few pages, send it to me for my almanack, " Huldigung der Frauen." By so doing CORRESPONDENCE. 151 you will oblige me and my readers very much. Farewell, my respected friend, whose heart is attuned to mine. May poetry and life alike become easy to you, and may you sometimes think of — Your true and warm friend, Castelli. My little garden sends greetings. Robert Schumann to Andersen. Leipzig, i.st October 1842.- HoNOURED Sir, — What must you think of_ me for leaving your friendly note, which gave me so much pleasure, so long unanswered ? But I did not wish to come before you with quite empty hands, al- though I know very well that I am only making a return for what first came from you. Please accept my music in place of your poem. It may appear weird to you 152 HANS c. Andersen's correspondence. at the outset. Your poems were equally strange to me at first. But as I entered more into the soul of your verse, my music also assumed a more and more strange character. Therefore the fault is yours alone. Andersenian poems must be composed differently to " Bloom, sweet Violet," etc. In " Spielman," I fear there is an error. Chamisso^ has hot translated your verse quite correctly. I have marked the place on page sixteen. To a Danish musician — perhaps Herr Hartmann— it would be an easy task to put it right. Perhaps you will ask him about it, and I will make the correction. My wife has told me so much about you, and I have been , so eager for ^the most ^ Chamisso (Aldalbert von), French botanist and author, born in 1781, died in 1838. Though by birth and early education he was a Frenchman, Chamisso spent the greater and more active part of his Hfe under decidedly German influence. He studied botany with great ardour,- and in the expedition conducted by Kotzebue, which circumnavigated the globe, he was chosen as botanist. He wrote many poems in German, some of which displayed great depth of pathetic feeling. ---^ ^^'■ ROBERT SCHUMANN. HANS C. AiJDERSEN S CORRESPONDENCE. I 55 minute details, that I believe I should re- cognise you if by chance we should ever meet. You are already known to me through your works, " The Improvisatore/' " Moon- light Stories," and your exquisite " Fiddler," which is the finest thing I have found in recent German literature, with the excep- tion of Immermann's . . .^ Now that I am also in possession of a complete translation of your shorter poems, I shall be sure to find many a pearl suitable for musical composition. May Heaven pre- serve you to your friends and admirers for a long time to come, and among these allow me to subscribe myself— Your most faithful, Robert Schumann. P.S. — My wife sends her kind remem- brances. ''Name omitted. 156 HANS CHRISTIAN Andersen's Andersen to Rachel} Paris, April 1843. Mademoiselle, — Before I leave France I must speak with you once again. The kindness with which you received tne, when Alexandre Dumas took me for" the first time to see you, gave me the courage, although I express myself very badly in French, to pay you a visit. You were still more amiable towards me, and invited me to your reception, where I came with a request on my lips which I did not like to express before an assernblage of strangers. But to-day I venture to do so in writing : will you inscribe for me a few words of remembrance in my album ? I have the handwriting of celebrated persons ^ Rachel (Elise Rachel Felix), born at Mumpf in Switzer- land, 28th February 1820, daughter of a wandering Jewish pedlar. She became a highly gifted and well-known actress in tragedy, both in Europe and America. While on tour in the latter country her health began to rapidly give way, and she died, while still young, at Cannes in France, 3d January 1858. CORRESPONDENCE. 1 57 in it, several' of whom may not be strangers to you. In this way you will confer upon me a pleasant and dear re- membrance. H. C. Andersen. In a letter to Fraulein Henrietta Wulff, dated Paris, 22)th April 1843, Andersen thus describes his visit to Rachel : — The best thing I have to communicate to you is, that yesterday I was invited by Rachel to one of her exclusive soirees. The rooms displayed splendour and wealth. Plum-coloure boun- dary of Laplandj I have just reached here. I left Denmark in the spring, where I was useless in the struggle for victory, and have travelled through Sweden, have been up at Dalkarlien where no thunder of cannon resounds. Happy, politically-defined Sweden, with its secure boundaries ! Three years ago I dreamt of undertaking the journey to Stockholm with you, but what a change has now come over everything ! I travelled alone, but you were in my thoughts — yes, I may say daily in my thoughts — with melancholy and sadness. Oh, you scarcely know how highly I rate you, how firmly you have grown into my heart ! I have only rightly understood that this summer. I have received no answer to my last letter which I wrote to you in the spring. I afterwards heard that a con- tingent of Weimar troops had marched to CORRESPONDENCE. 245 the north, and finally I read that your Royal Highness had yourself gone to the seat of war. I understood the circumstances, and sorrowed deeply on account of them, but could write no more. But now the pro- clamations of peace are ringing in my ears, I may follow the wishes of my heart and send this letter to my friend. In the far north of Sweden I received the news so late, and am only now listening to the sound of the joy-bells. I can see you again, and look into your honest, affectionate eyes. You have certainly experienced sad days this summer, my noble friend. I, on the other hand, have flown as if from f^te to fete in this splendid Sweden. My writings, too, are known here among the people, and I have been received as an old friend. They express great sympathy for my struggling fatherland, and their enthusiasm is loud and hearty : it l)as moved me deeply. I have spent several weeks in Stockholm, and the Royal family have been kind and highly gracious to me. The King has a noble heart J I felt the greatest confidence in him. 246 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENV We spoke of you, my noble friend, and I was pleased to hear him express himself to- wards you with so much cordiality. At Prince Gustavus's, also, the conversation several times turned upon you. I much appreciate this intellectual young man, he is so good and amiable. The Crown Prince, too, met me in- a very friendly manner. The Queen even held out her hand to me as a sign of special favour. I was several times invited to the Royal table, and by the King himself to the grand manoeuvres on his birthday. The litterateurs, ladies and gentlemen, organised an al fresco f^te in my honour. Little children strewed flowers before me, they came with wreaths and garlands. I felt very much embarrassed, and tried to take it as a jest — a play, kissed a few of the little ones, and hurried away as fast as I could. I stayed for a whole week long at the old town of Upsala. I was there with Chamberlain von Veskou. whose tragedies Oehlenschlager ' translated into German. From thence I travelled up to Dalkarlien, CORRESPONDENCE. 247 and beheld the glories of nature. Ah, how wonderful ! The Elf valley is still more beautiful than the Rhine ; it is a transparent sea, which glides through eternal woodlands. And what noble waterfalls! The one at Elfkarleby is still more imposing than that of Schaffhausen. I have seen Fahlun's deep pottery-kilns and pits, and have been down into the depths of Dannemora. On the return journeys I was at the house of King Karl Johann's old friend, good old Count Saltza, who is known here as a spiritualist and author : an eccentric, but a noble fine man. At Motala, the place where the steamships are built, I was sur- prised one evening by a serenade on the part of the workmen. I was received with songs and rejoicings. Such a thing as that is supposed to excite pride — ah, no, how insignificant one is thereby ! Later I visited Kinnakulle, by Sweden's great sea-like lake, Wener. I found myself comfortably situated at Count Hamilton's. Nature here is a garden of flowers : the mountains look like the numerous temples 248 HANS. CHRISTIAN ANDERSEn's of India,— they form strange shapes like elephants, towers, and columns, I have now been for some days at Trollhatte and am living near a waterfall in the midst of a forest. I am soon going to Gotheborg, where I shall find letters from Denmark ; I have received none for six weeks while I have been flitting about. From there I shall send this letter to you. You have thought qf me ! Amid days of carnage you have considered what was passing in my mind. My heart is entirely Danish, but my true friends in Germany I love still ; but now peace ! Peace ! May God let peace descend on the nations ! When these lines are in your hands, write soon, very soon, my dear Hereditary Grand-Duke, glad and happy, from a fatherland where peace also dwells. H. C. Andersen. Copenhagen, Z,th September 1849. My letter is only just going. God be with you, my dear, noble sir ! I believe CORRESPONDENCE. 249 in you more and more. Just read the Augustenburg letters brought out by Wegener. Your noble heart, and every noble German heart which loves the truth, will feel that Denmark is blameless and good, : and has suffered Injustice ; the Germans will love us still more sincerely on that account !-r-ay, love ! To love friends here, that is above all the greatest and best in us ! May God let peace rest on the nations. H. C. Andersen. Anderson to the Grand-Duke of Weimar. Copenhagen, iith January 1850. Greeting and blessing in the New Year ! All is ice and snow, the way over the Belt so wide and uncertain. Thought flies quicker, and returns with the whole of Ettersburg, Weimar, and all the dear ones. My thanks for your unaltered affection for me, my noble friend. 25b HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S If I see beautiful nature, or if I am in a place made sacred by remembrances, I whisper to myself,— Here is room for niany, if only my dear ones were here to share my enjoyment ! It is just the same with a good book, — the more it appeals to me, the more urgently I wish that all could read it. This is jiist now the case with Oersted's new work, " The Spirit in Nature " (a German translation will soon appear). On reading this book the world becomes so splendidly great, so intelligible, so sacred. A circuitous but interesting way, where the manifesta:tion of works is shown glorified as they appear in the Bible, leads us to God. It is " Cosmos," but in a popular, concise form. I was as far as this with my " letter last week, my dear friend, when I -^was interrupted — and by what ? The north has lost its Goethe — Oehlenschlager de- parted this life on the 20th of January, on the anniversary of Christian VIII. 's death, and at the same hour in the even- CORRESPONDENCE. 25 1 ing ! Shortly before his demise I saw him twice. He lived close to the castle ; the doctors had told me that death would soon follow. It was a strange coincidence for me to look towards the gloomy windows of the castle, and to think of how, two years ago, I wandered anxiously about on account of my dear, dear King, and now, I was again there and concerned about a King — a. king of letters. His death was without pain; his sons read aloud to him at his own request a scene from his tragedy, " Socrates," where the latter speaks of immortality; then he spoke of his own convictions as to eternal life, kissed his sons and his daughter-in- law, and said that he felt comfortable, and was free from pain ; then he prayed that the last struggle might be easy, lay down calmly, and expired. I have seen his corpse. His illness — jaundice— has given him the appearance of a bronze statue, rather than that of a corpse. The forehead was beautiful, youth- ful, and clear. Yesterday, the 26th, the .252 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S populace carried him to the grave — yes, the populace in the fullest sense, for all classes — officials, students, sailors, and soldiers-^joined the procession and bore the coffin on the long road to " Fred- eriksberg," where he was born, and where he wished to be buried. The distance is about two- miles, but yet he was carried. The real burial service was held in the church of Our Lady. The Bishop of Zee- land preached the funeral sermon. Old Grundwig and I had written funeral hymns by request. Enclosed I send your Royal Highness a translation, in prose, of my hymn, " From the Shores of Copen- hagen," which was sung as the funeral cortege left the town. In the Royal Theatre his death was celebrated by a representation of " Hakon Jarl," and the scene from "Socrates," which was read aloud to him in his last hour. ' The small North-star Order, which Oehlenschlager had worn himself, he . gave me last year. In it I have a beautiful and CORRESPONDENCE. 253 enduring remembrance of him. May he rest in peace ! May peace also rest upon the world ! H. C. Andersen. Andersen to the Grand-Duke of Weimar. Copenhagen, 2nd April 1850. It is my birthday ! I will close the day by writing to my noble friend. . Lovely spring flowers, even roses, decorate my little room ; they have all been brought to me to-day as an emblem of a New Year of life, with its flowers. I am forty- five years old ! — how dreadfully old, and yet how young I am ! I feel as if I were only twenty ! My life has been luxuriant and not arduous ; may the coming years resemble former ones. If only I could see you again, my noble friend ! This year I shall only visit you in my thoughts, but there I am a daily guest. 254 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S My new dramatic piece, " Ole Lukdie," has now been played, and has met with great appreciation. At the first repre- sentation I experienced what few authors have undergone in one evening. The poetical spirit of the work was not under- stood by the public at all, and during the' first and second acts they were noisy and even rough ; only in the third act, they began for the first time to comprehend, and grcidually the enormous crowd (2500 people) became quiet and attentive, and expressed its appreciation in unanimous and stormy applause and with deep emotion. The later representations have met with the same hearty approbation. " That riches are not synonymous with happiness, but that real happiness consists of a contented, cheerful spirit and a healthy mind, is," says a critic of "Ole Lukoie," "the great lesson which the poet has dressed here in a rich poetical garment, a lesson which could hardly find application at a more fitting time than the present, when false notions CORRESPONDENCE. 255 of a perfect equality in worldly circum- stances for all, govern the great masses." A young chimney-sweep, who has hither- to lived happily and contentedly with his old grandmother and his sweet- heart, comes home on the evening of his twentieth birthday full of all the grand- eur of an aristocratic house which he had seen when sweeping the flues. One of the neighbours, a shopkeeper, and a representative of the large number who hold money to be the greatest good, disturbs this quiet, idyllic Hfe, and fills the heart of the young man with a mighty longing for riches and all the good things of the world. He is surprised in his brooding by Ole Lukoie (the dustman, the dream- god, the little Ole Lukoie, is a child in a shirt and nightcap, and walks in his socks), who spreads the canopy of dreams over his head, and in the dream-world his most ardent wishes are now fulfilled. Dreaming that a fire breaks out, he jumps up to help to extinguish it, As 256 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN's he returns, the spirit of a dead dandy meets him, who, while he lived, lost- the pearl of life in the gutter, and i.s now condemned to seek it. The , latter, like all spirits, can easily work wonders, and he grants, our chimney-sweep three wishes, all of which will be fulfilled. The, latter first wishes for some of the dandy's clothes ; but as he would have to wait for these ' till he got home, he desires something that he can hav-e at |once, and wishes for a lot of money. He receives it, but under the condition that he re- serves his third wish until the money is spent, and under the restrictions and consent of the spirit. The money is soon gone in revelry ; and he turns for more to the deceased dandy, who, however, will not listen to him. He is, notwithstanding, helped in other ways, and reaches the happy stage of always having money enough ; but the demon who procured it for him, and who shows himself in the person of the old shopkeeper, makes the condition that, as compensation for it, he CORRESPONDENCE. 257 must never sing or rejoice any more. He sees the vivacity of his youth buried (a blooming rose-tree in a coffin), and plunges into the whirlpool of pleasure ; but the deeper he sinks in it, the more serious and sad he becomes. All the evil spirits that attend on riches beset his soul, and show him that, instead of happiness, horror follows on the steps of an ill- spent life. The foster-mother of diseases, and even death itself, appear. Poor chimney-sweep in velvet and silk ! His despair reaches the highest point ; already the clouds of despondency begin to over- whelm him, when he suddenly remembers God. His former youth and high spirits he still sees like "shadows on the wall," the songs of youth ring in his ears. Then he thinks of his third wish, and stands again before the spirit, to whom he ex- presses his last -desire — namely, the re- turn of his former content and happiness in the bosom of his family. He had hardly finished speaking when a rose-bush sprang out of the earth, and the spirit 258 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEn's plucked one rose after another — the roses of content, cheerfulness, and love — and threw them upon the mourner, who had sunk exhausted on a step. But the step vanishes, and he is sitting again in his little room in the old arm-chair in which he had fallen asleep, in the arms of his dear ones, who awake him on his birthday with a rain of roses and caresses, and he arises to a new life. The dream and little Ole Lukbie had both vanished. The German translation of the piece will soon be published, and then I will hand it over to your Royal Highness. I think it would be liked on the Weimar stage. I should be glad if it brought me to the remembrance of the many there whose memory I cherish with love and gratitude. I hope also that it will be put on most of the German boards. The winter in Copenhagen gave us a pleasant variety, on the stage as well as in private circles : the most splendid ball was the one given by Prince Frederick.^ 1 Prince Frederick William ; later Landgraf of Hesse, CORRESPONDENCE. 259 At our concerts Mendelssohn's harmonies were rendered in rich profusion, and now the picture exhibition tempts us with its world of colour. In the meantime the summer comes flying on the stork's back, the steamers work their way out to sea, groaning ! Who would not like to go with them ? I beg you to recall me to the gracious remembrance of the Hereditary Grand- Duchess, and your exalted parents. To-mor- row week the Crown Prince of Sweden comes to Copenhagen, remains here two days, and then goes to Holland; perhaps your Royal Highness is also going to The Hague.'' When shall we meet? Perhaps next year in Stockholm ! H. C. Andersen. Andersen to the Grand-Duke of Weimar. Glorup, in Funen, 12th July 1850. Peace ! Peace with Germany ! It rings through my heart. It is really like sun- 26o HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN's shine, like a festive Sunday ! I should like to write at this moment to the many who are so dear to me in Germany, and with whom I have not exchanged a. letter for a long time, for my thoughts are flying about everywhere, and yet I can only write to one, and you' are this one, my dear exalted friend. These tidings will awaken in your heart the joy they have created in mine. And now I can think of visiting my neighbours again, my brothers on the other side of the Elbe, the land where Goethe sang, where Luther preached, and where art and science have spread so many rays over the world— the country where I have experienced so much kindness-^ — won so many friends. Peace! Peace with Germany! I feel so glad that it will now be known that Den- mark' wanted no more than her rights. May no more blood flow, may the work of peace begun, prosper in God. For a long, long time I have heard nothing from you I The day before Whitsuntide CORRESPONDENCE. 26 1 I left Copenhagen, and before my depar- ture I wrote to your Royal Highness, now about seven weeks ago. In Danish and German papers I am always looking for Weimar. I have not seen that you are travelling or that you are ill. I know that you think of me. I rely steadfastly on my noble friend. An opera, by my compatriot, Saloman, has, I am very pleased to hear, met with approbation in Weimar. If they only knew more of the Danish operas in Germany, such as Kuhlau's " Lulu,'' Weyse's " Night- cap," Hartmann's "The Little Cirsten" (Christine), and " The Raven," these would certainly also attain popularity. Some of Overskou's comedies have been very favourably received on the German stage, but the Germans are not acquainted with plays like "The Savings-Bank," by Hertz, " No/' by Heiberg, and other ster- ling works of the same kind. I am writing this letter in quiet, home- like Glorup in Fiinen, the seat of the old Count Gebhardt Moltke, where I have now 262 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN's spent four weeks, and where I am heartily welcomed. All day long I can either wan- der in the forest solitudes or undisturbedly read or compose. Here I received the pro- clamation of peace even earlier than I dared to hope. I was fetched in from the Count's deer-park by a gamekeeper; he said they had been looking for me every- where to impart good tidings, — i.e., the authentic news of peace. I hurried to the castle and saw the printed document. Ah, my noble friend, if I could only have em- braced you at that moment ! I was obliged to cry for joy and return to the , forest again, where I sang German and Danish songs from an overflowing heart. That was a real holiday ! Now I shall soon re- ceive a letter from Weimar addressed to Copenhagen (155 Amalienstrasse). During Whitsun week I was with the author Fugeman in Soroe, who has written some new novels. It was in the beautiful days of spring. The beeches were already bursting into leaf, and the nightingales sang in the fragrant trees on moonlight CORRESPONDENCE. 263 nights. From there I went to Jutland, to picturesque Sillceborg, which bears a strik- ing resemblance to the Scottish scenery between Stirling and Loch Lomond; but nature in Denmark is richer in large and stately forests. Here, for the first time, I saw pitch-black storks strutting about the green moor, mighty eagles snatching their prey from the lakes plentiful in fish. I was told that a pike was caught here some years ago with the entire skeleton of an eagle on its back. The eagle, with its claws deeply buried, must have sunk with the pike and decomposed under the water. From Fredericia I came to Fdnen. Here I am at work on my travel-pictures of Sweden, and from here I shall go over the islands to Copenhagen. I must relate to you a little story, a new proof of how much poetry lies in so-called chance. On placing fresh wreaths on Oehlenschlager's grave they found a faded one, in which a little song-bird had « built her nest and laid eggs. This would have touched and delighted Oehlenschlager, 264 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEn's Your Royal Highness will perhaps soon read his biography ; but before this I shall probably receive a letter, and learn how it fares with the little' Prince Karl August. For a long time I have heard nothing of him ; he must be a strong young man by now. When we meet I shall probably be a stranger to him. Give my most sincere and respectful regards to your noble Con- sort and your Royal parents. Beaulieu^ has entirely forgotten me ! How is he ? And the good Eckermann and Marschall ? Farewell, my dear, dear friend ! H. C. Andersen. Andersen to the Grand- Duke of Weimar. Copenhagen, December 1850. Christmas is approaching — the childish, happy Christmas f^te. In every house 1 Beaulieu (Marconnay Karl Oliver von), diplomatist and historian, born Stti September 181 1, at Minden. In 1843 he entered the service of the Grand-Duke of Weimar, and in J853 he became Grand-Chamberlaiij. CORRESPONDENCE. 265 they are decorating the trees ; in the grand- ducal castle at Weimar also the Christ- mas tree stands. Joy reigns supreme with young and old on this most beautiful fairy night of the year, which is also for the grown-up people a veritable children's night. Thanks for your friendship in the old year : may the new one prove a bright and happy one for us all. It is a long time since I last wrote : curiously enough, so long that I might have taken a considerable journey in the time, whereas I have only left my little room to wander within the walls of Copen- hagen. And yet I have travelled in a new world, which one of my oldest friends, our celebrated H. C. Oersted, has opened to me. In the early part of this year his work appeared, " The Spirit in Nature." I have mentioned this book before. It is closely allied to Humboldt's " Cosmos," and yet widely dififerent. I am forty-five years old, but I often feel in many ways as if I were twenty. 266 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDEKSEN's I believe that, as a poet, I have several stages to go through, and that I have reached one of those by means of Oersted's work. This book has awakened in me a longing for science, and I have latterly read a good deal in this direction which has naturally disturbed my productiveness — and also my correspondence with friends. Oer- sted has always been good to me. He has been my faithful friend for many years ; but now he is even more to me, — he has understood my sincere aspiration. Under this process of development my last work, "In Sweden," has been altered and re- altered. If you, my noble friend, read this book in the beginning of the new year, a few passages in it will show you how life and the world are now reflected in me. But fear not that I shall leave the fresh life of poetry to throw myself into the realm of philosophy, or even to write didactic poems : that will not happen. For me the human heart is the fairy-lamp of poetry, V\rhich I firmly grasp, and I stand like CORRESPONDENCE. 267 Aladdin with this lamp in the glowing cavern of science ; neither will the powers of nature be able to make me their servant. No, I will call forth the spirits, which at my bidding must build me a new castle of poetry: With Oersted I have had many instructive conversations. I beg you to read his book ; it will not fail to make its mark, and you, my dear friend, will like to know the man. His fiftieth jubilee as teacher in the Copenhagen Uni- versity has just been celebrated ; and the use of the beautiful villa in which Oehlen- schlager used to live has been given to him for life. All the learned societies have honoured and extolled him,, and the King has granted him the title of Excellency. To me was entrusted the task of writing some blank verse to accompany his por- trait, It ran as follows : As the lightning thought from thy forehead sprang, Science received a greater impetus. An immeasurable treasure gav'st thou to the countries of the world. And through all the beauties of truth Thou leadest us with upturned gaze to God, 268 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEn's Of Jenny Lind I have heard nothing for a whole year, except through the papers, which tell me of her and the novelty- loving Yankees. Fredericka Bremer is also in North America, and remains there till the spring. She has, however, written both to Oersted and to me. My books, she says, are very much liked there, and I have many friends. But I shall never see them, because the great ocean is a terror to me — its move- ments make me suffer ; and yet I love the sea, that is, when I stand upon firm, dry ground. My longing to travel does, not extend to the West ; it must then be for England ; — no, I will go to the South, to Italy, and the way lies by Weimar. In a Vienna pocket-book, entitled " My Thoughts for 1851," there is a novel by Clara von Massow, " The Settler in Haltigen"; but I, Hans Christian Ander- sen, am the hero of this romance. It is rather presumptuous to put me in it when I am still alive. Do read this curious Story. CORRESPONDENCE. 269 The sculptor Jerichau^ will soon return to Rome. Before his departure he wishes to make a bust of me. His wife has a picture of me ready ; this, and a similar one of Queen Caroline Amelia, she takes with her to London. At the great ex- hibition . your Royal Highness will be able to see both pictures, if you are there then. For the first time for many years I shall spend Christmastide this year in Copen- hagen. In former years I used to pass some varied and delightful weeks at Count Moltke's at Bregentved. Now it is a house of mourning there. A son, who was serving as a volunteer hussar,^ has died of typhus fever in the hospital. He was a thoroughly good, son, a dear boy, and at the Christmas merrymaking the merriest of all. From the Christmas tree in Copenhagen, my thoughts fly to the castle in Weimar, where happy children, happy parents and grandparents gather round the tree. ^- Jerichau (Jens Adolph), Danish sculptof, born 7th April 1816, at Assens, in Fiinen. He died 25th July 1883. ^ One year's service. 270 . HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S A bright Christmas and a happy New Year to you all is the wish of H. C. Andersen. Andersen to the Grand- Duke of Weimar. Glorup, in Funen, lytkjune iSt,i: Your Royal Highness will have received, I hope, my bust from Jerichau and have accorded it a friendly place in your happy, home. The bust is good, is it not ? If I could only stand like it in person before your Royal Highness ! An intellectual picture will, I believe, also have come before you : my new picture- bouquet from the land of Sweden. I myself consider these compositions my most successful effort, next to my fairy tales. Like them it will be difficult to render them correctly in any language but the original ; yet I hope that they will find a favourable reception at the hands of my noble friend. In Sweden, CORRESPONDENCE. 27 1 where they have appeared, as well as in Germany and England, they seem to have attracted attention. Yesterday brought me a letter from King Oscar, with hearty thanks for these pictures of his country. I am now highly curious to know which part your Royal Highness will like best. The style will remind you of my " Picture Book with- out Pictures." I am now in Fnnen, with his Excellency Count Moltke Hvidfeldt, and remain here till July. If your Royal Highness will favour me with a letter, I beg that the same may, as usual, be sent to Copen- hagen to the address of Privy Councillor Collin ; I shall then receive the letter immediately. At the beginning of July I am going to Schleswig-Holstein, and later — but this is not yet Settled — to Paris. I shall only remain there a short time so as to finish a new composition at home. Does your Royal Highness intend to travel this summer? How happy I should be if I could meet you ! 272 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S I commend myself to the gracious re- membrance of your exalted Consort and your parents ! The beautiful days in Weimar pass ever through my mind like spring sunshine. Bright and happy memories are the most highly prized treasures. H. C. Andersen. Andersen to Chamberlain von Beaulieu tn Weimar. Copenhagen, /««e 1851. piSAR Friend, — :I was sincerely glad to receive a letter from you, who are so dear to me ; my feelings have remained the same all through the years. I have still unchanged the same confidence in you, and therefore I truly confess that there was something in your letter which sur- prised and grieved me — words which I did not think you could have written to me CORRESPONDENCE. 273 I possess, however, so many dear and pleasant remembrances of your feeling towards me, of your own charming and good-hearted personality, that I soon saw that your letter was overshadowed by the mood you , were in when you wrote. I longed to be in Weimar, where I had ex- perienced so much kindness, and where so many live that I love ; but as I did not know in what way the lower orders would show their sympathy after the last agitation, in a town like Weimar, and as I thought it possible I should feel rather uncomfortable as a Dane, I asked you about it in con- fidence, because I wished to feel as happy in Weimar as before. As far as concerns the cultivated classes, I had no thought or fear of coming into collision with any one of them : we have so many other interests in common which are dear to us, so much that is good and beautiful as subjects of con- versation to mutually entertain us, that I should certainly have flown to my old friends. Time will clear up much, and I know that Germans and Danes will be the best of s 2 74 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEn's friends ; let the noblest stretch out their hands to each other first. The beautiful and the true will be the bridge between us. May the soft chords which find a place in my heart underlie every word of this letter, and you will understand that where I as a true Dane — and that I am — felt sharply wounded, it is the friend who suffers from the wound. Therefore no more of politics— only of the world, of the heart and the intellect ! If my new book finds a good place in yours, then write me a few words about it. Remain true and good to me. We all live such a short time together in this world that those who are dear to each other ' here must hold closely together lest the waves sweep them apart. Re- member me kindly to your excellent wife, and let me soon hear from the friend whom I should so like to meet ! H. C. Andersen. In explanation of the foregoing letter we CORRESPONDENCE. 275 add one from Councillor Edward Collin to Andersen, dated lytk June 185 1. You have informed me, my dear Ander- sen, of your having asked the Chamberlain Beaulieu his opinion as to how far the feeling extends in Weimar in respect to the Danes, in order that you might feel comfortable there and have no unpleasant- ness to fear. You at the same time communicated to me the Chamberlain's reply and asked me my opinion of it. I can understand yOur hesitation. You would not willingly break with a man who has shown you attention, and who, accord- ing to your account, must be a cultured, intellectual person, and a kind husband and father. But you can have no doubt about this, that his letter to you is very offensive, and, in short, is a rough answer to a good- natured inquiry. Your question, as you very rightly remark, directed to the masses, was whether an anti- Danish feeling existed 276 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEn's among the low uneducated classes of the people. It could not, of course, occur to you to ask how far you had aught to fear from cultured persons like the Chamber- lain Beaulieu and his compeers. Now, by heaven, it seems to me you have received a distinct answer to ^ everything ; for if, among the cultivated, hospitality to a guest should be shown towards you in such a manner as Herr Beaulieu prophesies, — by contempt and ridicule, — you can calculate what you -vVould have to expect from the masses.. Beaulieu's presumptions,' by which you are to guard yourself from ever going to Weimar, are, according to the purport of his letter as communicated to me, as. follows : («) That you are so Danishly inclined that you do not understand how the Danish Casino-Cabinet can be regarded as a product of Democracy. Now, it is highly naive for a member of the great Germany who has made himself so cele- brated by his coquetting with Democracy — CORRESPONDENCE. 277 by way of change from the former press prosecutions, domiciliary visits, political im- prisonments, etc. — for such an honoured member of the Ministry, I say, to cast reproach on a democratic origin. It ap- pears that Herr Beaulieu assumes that the change of Ministry in the year 1 848 took place principally that the people might be in power. He ignores, therefore, something that the people in harness brought to pass — the events in the Duchies, the Schleswig- Holstein deputation here, — in short, that the people rose against German arrogance.' Just as the whole of the present German journalistic literature holds fast to the standing expression, "Casino- Cabinet," as a word of abuse, so is it used here also by Herr Beaulieu; for the rest, it seems, when he aims at the present Government, he does not, or will not, know that none of the so-called " Casino " men possess a port- folio to-day. It might perh3.ps interest Herr Beaulieu to learn that there are four noblemen in the Cabinet, among them two counts, and that the President of the 278 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEn's Council is one of our highest and most distinguished aristocrats, — (d) That you would be annoyed when one ridiculed the order that the hat must be taken off down to the thighs before every Danish official or soldier. If that be true, of which I am really not aware (but in Germany they are so much better informed of our circumstances), that an officer in Angeln gave those absurd instructions for the small district in occupa- tion by him, this story reduces itself to the bad taste and mal-conduite of a single individual. But when this individual is a Dane, the story has such a monstrous success that the poet H. C. Andersen would have to run the risk of being derided in the town of Schiller and Goethe, — the highly cultured Weimar! Good God! if the Germans who visit Copenhagen in hundreds, and enjoy hospitality here, heard derision of all the stupidities (not to use a worse word) which the Germans have committed, then — well, it is really not worth while to be more bitter than is necessary. — (c) That you, on the part of CORRESPONDENCE. 279 Denmark, find everything right, everything true, everything reasonable, and on the part of Holstein exactly the reverse. These arguments smack a little of the want of having anything else to say. It is not quite usual for a person, who is no fool, to admit that he regards himself as the only sensible being. I leave it to you to make what use you please of this letter, even to sending it to Herr Beaulieu for the creation of a genteel laugh ; but if you did so, it could only be correct by your pointing out to him my competency to give such an opinion, partly on account of my relations towards yourself, which justify me in casting back the scorn intended for you, and partly because the writer of it is an official of the ancien regime and no friend to Democracy - — least of all "a product of Democracy." I hope that you will peremptorily dis- claim the honour of being, among Weimar's great men, " a dear, worthy bard with whom one may go out walking, but not discuss politics." 28o HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN's Andersen to Miss Henrietta Wulff. Copenhagen, i%th December 1851. Thanks for your hearty letter, which I received with the Christmas greetings. We shall, however, not reach the top of the tree till next week, and from there I always look forward towards the coming spring : the unfolding year, whatever it may bring forth, has green woods and open sea, and this time it will bring you back. It will be impossible for me ever to go, to America, even if, on your return, with your eloquence and talent for sketching, you paint the country with all the brilliancy of 2. fata morgana. You have truly, in each letter, beckoned and called ; but there is the vast ocean between us, — the fourteen days of broa:d, angry sea, where I should for days be sea-sick in return for my money out of pocket. Fie, Andersen ! you already cry. Now;, we will drop the tender thread, and come to the real point. I am CORRESPONDENCE. 28 1 looked upon, — at least at home, — as Phantasy personified, but that is because only a part of rrte is understood. . I have as much thought for what is practical and real. You write: "It is so easy to do the voyage to America. A steamer fitted with all comforts carries you across the sea, and in America you will be well received, and find many friends and homes. You can travel about with the Lind," etc., etc. Yes, that is very lovely ; but it is for me only a pretty fancy. Do you know how you could easily allure me and bring me into a travelling mood ? Why, by writ- ing : "So much for the steamer from Europe to America, so rfiuch a day in a good hotel, so much per mile by rail." Then I might make my calculations, see what a journey like that would cost, see if I could afford it, and whether expenses and profits would balance, and then make up my mind. I have great dread of long sea voyages, 1 suffer so much ; but that I might even conquer and overcome.. Yes, I should certainly go to America, if a rich 282 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEn's man or woman over there left me suffi- cient means in a will. Perhaps such a person may turn up ; then I shall go ! But are you now really coming back to us, dear, blessed " sister Jette," as your brother says ? We will, by the warmth of our hearts and the love in our eye, compensate for the West Indian climate. The forest will be fresh and green when you come, and at the Casino we will play " Hyldemaer " to you. I Suppose your brother has already sent you that comedy ? It interests me exceedingly to find that nearly all our great poets greatly admire that little, work. Ingemann finds it very beautiful indeed, — just after his heart, ^ — and gives me great praise. The poets Boye, Hauch, Hoist, etc., are quite taken with it. Yes ; only think, the day before yesterday I received from Heiberg himself a charming letter, in which he expresses his pleasure on receiving that poetical work. He says it is " poetic " and "dramatic." CORRESPONDENCE. 283 " Foedrelandet " and the " Dageblad " have spoken well of " Hyldemaer." The spiteful and bigoted articles against my writings have been ridiculed, so I have really received much kindly recognition. Longfellow has sent me his " Evangeline." Bentley sent a great work, " The Whale," and Burton has dedicated to me, " A Voyage from Leith to Lapland." Thus the wind blows freely from the West, and from that direction your letter also came. Miss Bremer has not been in Copenhagen. French journals say she is gone to Stock- holm and that her sister is dead. The attention of all Copenhagen, or nearly so, is just now directed on Mr. Hoedt, who has made his appearance as "Hamlet" and also as the lover in " No." People stood all night to obtain tickets. No more finished piece of acting has been seen. He is the "Talma" of to-day. Would that I could be of the same opinion, but I am not- Here is my judgment : Hoedt has great gifts, speaks his part admirably; indeed, he ought to instruct half our caste. I am now speaking 284 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEn's of him as "Hamlet." Everything becomes clear and comprehensible as he speaks, but I have more the feeling of listening to a lecture or a dramatic discourse which ap- peals to the reason only,—" Hamlet " him- self I cannot feel, — I hear only the correct Hoedt, and he does not interest me. He is wanting in pathos, there is no trace of a heart. His voice is not agreeable, and his face, with the exception of the eyes, is life- less. Hoedt has not as yet, I believe,, ap- peared in any characters in which he might become to the stage, what people say he is now, and which he himself doubtless be- lieves he is. In " No " he appears very disagreeable to me. He is there a btasd student, sarcastic, overbearing, very un- amiable, which I do not think a lover ought to be ; but if so, then his acting is a masterpiece. Nay, were I the maiden, I would unhesitatingly accept the bell-ringer. She would be far happier with him ; he at least has a heart. In " New Kings Street " they are not of my opinion, but that is the case in many places. I will now predict the CORRESPONDENCE. 285 artistic career of Hoedt : public enthusiasm will cool in a few months, he will be vexed, and as he is a rich man, he will be so angry that he • will leave the stage forever, and he and his party will say, "It is an awful loss to art." This is perhaps a little too long for you, but you get off easily. If you were here you would hear different opinions expressed upon Hoedt. Once more, in order not to be misunderstood, he is richly gifted, he speaks his parts with good sense and refinement ; but that is not enough to stand all night for, only to obtain a ticket or call it " the first." But Hoedt is now the pinnacle of enthusiasm, as Clara Raphael was, and before her, Rassi, and in bygone days Mademoiselle Pohlmann. Do you re- member Mademoiselle Pohlmann ? She was a Hamburg singer who is perhaps now for- gotten in Hambiirg. This letter must not be printed or I shall be murdered. From Mrs. Oersted and Mathilde I send you many greetings. Lately the pension granted to Mrs. Oersted was mentioned in the Chamber,- Mr. Frolund thought that 286 HANS .CHRISTIAN Andersen's it was extraordinary that she, as a widow, should receive looo dollars ; but then the Ministers of Education replied : " But her husband was extraordinary too ..." Young Molbech has just published Dante's " Hell," and a book of pretty, original poems entitled " Damring." Chris- tian Winther has written a Marionette comedy, "A Student and a Maid." Lose and Delbanco published a Danish almanac for the people. It was sold out in three weeks. There were 4000 copies. In it were two fairy tales of mine. One is called "There is a Difference," the other, "The Loveliest Rose in the World." This latter is considered one of my best, but it is not. I have in manuscript a few more, " The Old Tombstone," "Doomsday," and "A Swan's Nest." The last is a small history of Denmark. Denmark is the swan's nest. You will understand what swans flew from there in the eyes of the world, not to mention the great flocks which were called Longbeards, Voerings, and Norsemen. Will you kindly remember me to my CORRESPONDENCE. 287 friends in America. I hope you have there procured what I asked' you on the evening of your departure,- — a cheap edition of a couple of my books. There are editions of " O. T." and " Spillemanden " at two shilHngs. If you have forgotten, remember it now, while you are in a corner of the other world. The daguerreotype with your brother Worsaae, Grimur Thomsen, and myself, is, I hope, in your hands. How do you like it ? They tell me I look very haughty. That is caused by tobacco smoke ; Mr. Grimur puffed incessantly, and I cannot endure that kind of incense. We are now far into December without any actual winter. It is mild weather, as it is called, — wet, fogs, twilight all day, clammy stair rails, con- versations about the "President," Hoedt, Christmas presents, etc. The painter, Roed, is now home from Dresden with his copy of the Madonna. Martin Hammerich has got it, and has placed it in a separate room. Marstrand has nearly finished his large picture, "Sum- mer F^te in Liksand ; " you know it from 288 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEn's "In Sweden." With the first swallow I hope for a letter from you. Ah, would the swallow but come soon ! but the way is long over the rolling sea. I must wait, wait — and I do not like it. But now good-bye. This has become a letter of a whole printed sheet. I hope you will read it on a clear day, and in a bright humour, standing by a window ; and if a bird flies across the sea towards land, that is a sign that I shall see all the beauty across the sea. Tell me if a bird comes. — Your brotherly faithful, H. C. Andersen. Andersen to the Grand-Duke of Weimar. Copenhagen, ist March 1852. After your Royal Highness' last letter I felt myself vividly transported to dear' artistic Weimar. The execution of the idea of erecting a monument to Goethe, Schiller, and Wipland will delight me. CORRESPONDENCE. 289 In a few words you have placed Coun- tess Rossi so distinctly before me, that I feel sympathy for her as well as regret that the glories of art and the life of the salon can no longer cheer her. As often as I receive a letter from you, my dear friend, I still higher appreciate your"" goodness of heart. It is now just eight years since I first went to Weimar. I saw you for the first time on your birth- day in the theatre at Weimar. At Etters- burg you extended your hand to me for the first time. As we parted, your Royal Highness said : " Write to me ; I will certainly reply." At that time I believed- — I honestly confess it — that it was only a friendly figure of speech ; but how truly, how sincerely, you have kept your word through eight years, under changing cir- cumstances, during the sumptuous festiv- ities of England's Queen, and the magni- ficent , splendour in St. Petersburg. All this has not caused you to forget the poet hearts in Denmark. It all passes so often and so vividly through my mind that I 1 290 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S sometimes almost feel homesick for Weimar, for this town always stands in the sunshine before my vision. It is ever smiling at me with kind eyes, and I so willingly believe that it will always be the same dear town to me. For five years I have not been there — yes, really, five long, eventful years. When spring comes I intend to go to Switzerland and North Italy, but first to spend a week or fourteen days in Weimar, for there my longing leads me. Above all I beg your Royal Highness for in- formation as to whether I can meet you in May at Weimar. My departure from here depends not a little upon the weather. If my new piece, " Fliedermiltterchen," does not reach you or Chamberlain Beaulieu be- fore then, I will bring it with me. I have received a letter from the theatrical manager, Von Dirigelstedt, in Munich, with whom I have hitherto been, unacquainted. He begs me to send him " Fliedermiltterchen," and to recommend to him the best Danish pieces suitable for CORRESPONDENCE. 29 I Germany. I have already rnade a Iqng list of them. Indeed, Danish dramatic literature is so rich that, one could easily find an original work for every night of the year. But y^i'y little of it is known in Germany, with the exception of Dehlenschlager's " Corregio," Overskou's " Fatalities on the Wedding- day," and Hertz's " King Rent's Daughter." When I go to Weimar I shall be able to speak more exhaustively, than through letters, to your Royal Highness and Chamberlain Beaulieu of the great riches of dramatic literature. A beautiful new edition of my fairy tales has again appeared in London. I am now arranging the bringing out of a collected edition of my works in Denmark, and to this end I am working at my bio- graphy. In the meantime I have written some stories which can be added to my fairy tales. Perhaps they will be published with some little dramatic pieces, under the title of " From Fairyland and for Stage- land." 292 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S I have heard nothing froni your Royal Highness yet with regard to "In Sweden." Do read the booklet. I believe and hope that the little pictures will appeal to you. Here, in Denmark, we are having a most remarkably mild winter: the fields have con- tinued green, the storks came even as early as January^ and no ice binds the water. The last few nights have been illuminated by the beautiful northern lights, the flames spreading in changing colours over the sky. Will your Royal Highness kindly give my humble regards to the Duchess and your noble parents ? Also kindest remem- brances to Frau von Grosse, Countess Beust, Chamberlain and Frau von Beaulieu, the good Eckermann, and Scholl. I long for the spring morning when I shall see your Royal Highness in your study. Oh, how I should rejoice ! for you are certainly un- changed and the same, like Your Royal Highness' sincerely devoted, H. C. Andersen. CORRESPONDENCE. 293 Andersen to the Grand- Duke of Weimar. Munich, lyd June 1852. The days are passing like hours. I have been already over a week at Munich, and still have not written to your Royal High- ness. I have been thinking of it. My heart is full of the most fervent thanks for all the kindness, favours, and friendship which you showered upon me in those never-to-be- forgotten days at Weimar. I remained there three weeks, and every- thing was so congenial and' pleasant, and the memory of it even now is as beautiful as the reality was. When \ come again I hope that " The Lilac-tree " will be bloom- ing on the stage. Give the work a friendly reception. The music will be easily ar- ranged according to the melody given in the book, but I very much wish that both the melodies which I gave to the manager here, as a supplement, may be used. Munich has an immense attraction for 294 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN's me ! In the " Bazaar " I have compared it to a rose-bush, which is now in full bloom. The Au-kirche is a veritable passion- flower, as if sprung up in a moment ; the Basilika a golden pink with exquisite per- fume and organ tones. The manager of the theatre has placed an entire box at my disposal during the whole time t remain here. The King has received me with ex- treme kindness and graciousness, and sent for me at noon to go to Castle Starenberg. I crossed the lake with the King to a little flower-island. His Majesty pointed out to me the beautiful prospect, and as we walked together he conversed with me very cordially, almost as you would have done, my noble friend. On the island stood an old church. A lilac-tree bent its branches to the ground, and a blossom of it, which the King him- self plucked and gave to me, will be placed in rny album beside the lime-tree branch which you gave me once long years ago on my first visit to Ettersburg. I spoke to the Countess Egloffstein at the castle of King Ludwig. The German CORRESPONDENCE. 295 authoress, Frau Robinson of Borton, whose acquaintance J made at Councillor SchoU's in Weimar, is also here. On Tuesday I return by way of Milan and Switzerland. If I may hope for a letter send it to Zurich paste restcmte. At the end of July letters are to be forwarded to Copenhagen, where I shall take sea-baths. H. C. Andersen. Andersen to the Grand-Duke of Weimar. CoRSELiTZA, Falster, 2\st August 1852. Your Royal Highness has received my last letter just as I was about to cross over the Alps into Italy, with my heart full of Weimar, and happy on account of the beautiful days in Munich. Now several weeks lie between, and these to me are like a whole rich year, on account of the changes of travel. The route over the Splugen, which I did not know before, is grand and impressive. It is strange, passing over the 296 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN's • backbone of the earth high up in the clouds, surrounded by Alpine roses and snow. Waterfalls rush down,^ one after the other, and far beneath the road (which hangs like a swallow's nest over the rocks) streams the Rhine, so foaming, so wild, so overbearing,- as if it were always the most important ele- ment in the whole scenery. Some days before my arrival at Milan the diligence was attacked by twelve banditti, six of whom _were arrested, and hanged on the day I arrived. Tl;ie heat was unbear- able ; one could only go out in the evening and early in the morning. 1 then went up into the dome of the Cathedral ; the magnifi- cent beauty of this building affected me now far more than nineteen years ago, when I was here for the first time. Nineteen years have passed away since I took my first journey to Italy and wrote my " Impro- visatore." As I climbed up to the dome and looked out over the country, like Moses over Canaan, it seemed to me as if I were saying good-bye to it for ever. God knows if it will not be so. CORRESPONDENCE. 297 This time the heat, with its flaming sword,, has driven me out of the paradise of poetry. I could not breathe, and was glad when I looked down from St. Gothard on the coun- try towards the north. I lingered some days by the Lake-of-the- four- Forest Towns, to me the most beautiful of all Swiss lakes. I felt then so refreshed, so contented. Switzerland is' a whole poem written by- the dear God Himself ; this, perhaps, is the reason why the country has produced no poet. I took leave of it at Schaffhausen. The world-renowned water- fall there did not impress me immediately. It seemed to me smaller than that at Troll- halle in Sweden, indeed, even smaller than one of unknown name at Spliigen. Yet when I came down the effect was entirely different. The huge mass of water on the right is what really claims the whole visual faculty ; it is a single long wave which resolves itself into whirling snow-white clouds. It is the creation of a cloud world ; a glacier dissolved in glittering vapour. Through the. solemn Black Forest, where 298 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEn's the "charcoal fires glowed through the thickets, and all good-looking people ap- peared to me like acquaintances out of Auerbach's " Village Tales," I came to Freiburg and then proceeded on the wings of steam through the provinces and down the Rhine. I have now been at home over a fortnight, and am taking the baths at Falster. I am here on a visit to . a very amiable family, namely that of Chamberlain Klassen. The forest and garden of Corselitza lie towards the open sea with its cool waves. Your Royal Highness, perhaps, at this moment gazes on a still more beautiful sea, the Mediterranean ; may every upheaving wave bring you the apple of health. To-morrow I am going to Copenhagen. Queen Caroline Amelia (widow of Christian VIII.) has graciously invited me to pass a few days with her at the beautiful summer castle of Sorgenfrei. I shall be home again in a week. H. C. Andersen. CORRESPONDENCE. 299 Andersen to Chamberlain Von BeaulieUi in Weimar. Copenhagen, in the Autumn of 1852. Dearest Friend, — 'I did not go to Kreuznach, which vexes me now, but I had suffered inexpressibly with the heat in Italy and Switzerland. I reached Frankfort, and wished to pay you a visit from there, but something un- foreseen occurred ; in fact, my travelling companion wished to return home without making a stay anywhere. I therefore re- turned hither with all possible speed and remained for a short time in Copenhagen. The last few days I have spent on the island of Falster, and take daily dips in the Baltic. The air is cold enough, too cold ; the sorb apples, asters, and dahlias, foretell the waning of the summer, which for me has been rich and beautiful. A thousand thanks for the happy days which I enjoyed with you in dear Weimar! 300 HANS C. ANDERSEN S CORRESPONDENCE. Give my regards and thanks to your amiable wife and to my many friends in your neighbourhood. God only knows when we shall see each other again. With the fall of the leaves in the autumn my spirits always fall. It seems to me then, as if all the dear ones would also fall away, and as if the most, recent meeting would also be the last one. I have the same feeling with regard to Italy ;' a:s if I had said farewell to it for ever, and should never more go to the land of my " Impro- yisatore." For five years I have not been in Weimar, not for five sad, troubled years, the billows of which still course ever through my heart. When shall I see Weimar again ? Give me a place in your heart, and if my " Fliederbusch " should take root on the Weimar stage, or, to speak more correctly, if it should be placed as a flower in the repertoire there in remembrance of me ; nay, even if the flower should fade, let me know. I FRANZ LISZT. HANS c. Andersen's correspondence. 303 Dr. Liszt has received several excellent musical compositions from Hartmann ; will they be heard in Weimar .'' These melo- dies are full of thought and feeling. " Little Kirsten " is peculiarly northern, but " The Raven " is undoubtedly the opera which will be best understood. And now farewell ! Greet your wife and children, if the little ones still remem- ber H. C. Andersen. Andersen to the Poet and Theatrical Manager Dingelstedt^ in Munich. Copenhagen, 1852. Honoured Sir, — I was agreeably sur- prised at receiving your kind and flattering communication. As a poet I have known and esteemed you for a long time, and it ^ Pingelstedt (Franz), German author, born 30th June 1814. From 1841-43 he was foreign correspondent to the " AUgeftieine Zeitung," and in 1851 he became director of the 304 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN's was therefore my intention to at once pay you a visit on arriving in Munich, where I have not been for eleven years. My plans are, God perrhitting, to go to Tyrol early in the summer, and on the journey to remain for three weeks in Munich, where I may possibly be remem- bered by a few former a.cquaintances. Now I have received your letter, and see that I have yet another friend in -beautiful Bavaria. I shall be most happy to meet you, and we can then discuss Danish litera-. ture more comprehensively than is possible by letter. It is, indeed, so very rich, that, if desired, an original work could very well be produced in Copenhagen every evening during the season. Scarcely any examples have been translated, or are known in Ger- many, with the exception of Oehlenschlager's "Tragedies," Overskou's "Fatalities of a Wedding-day," and Hertz's " King Rent's Daughter." I will, therefore, if you desire Bavarian Court and National Theatre. In August 1867, he was made director of the Court Opera in Vienna, where he died on i5thMayi88i. Hewas the author of several novels and plays. CORRESPONDENCE. 305 it, direct your attention to, several works which are certainly worthy to be repre- sented on every good stage. But first I must mention a couple of our composers whose operas are worth studying.^ You ask me about Hertz's new coffledy, " The Audience." I have noticed that a Hamburg journal announces that it has met with a most favourable reception, and added another laurel to the author's fame. This encomium appeared in several German papers and will certainly have come to your ears, but the critic is quite incorrect. The piece is weak and crude, and but very feebly represents our tuneful poet. There are other quite different works by him which ar'e worthy of being classed with " Kifig Rend's Daughter." Hauch's " Honour Lost and Won," and " The Sisters at KinneKule," are also worthy of mention. With regard to my own dramatic works, and particularly my last fairy comedy, " Die Fliedermutter," the honour which you have done rhe by asking for it, either translated ^ The names arid titles of the works have beeri omitted. 306 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN's or in the original, in order to produce it when possible at the Munich Court Theatre, has given me much pleasure, and I should be doubly pleased if it be, as I hope it is, a piece suitable for the South-German stage. As yet no dramatic production of niine has appeared in Germany. I thought that a beginning might be made with "The Flie- dermutter," and a few days before I re- ceived your esteemed letter I wrote to my German publisher to instruct him to have this well translated by Dr. Leo, who made a spirited translation of " King Rene's Daughter." I have not yet had a reply, but am now writing again to ask them to send you the manuscript of the German translation, also a brief musical supplement, and some hints for shortening the piece, with possible alterations and directions con- cerning the facility with which the final transformation scene may be represented by quite simple means. If Herr Leo should have other work which prevents him from translating my piece, I shall soon know, and will then instantly send the original to you, CORRESPONDENCE. 307 dear Herr Dingelstedt, if you know a com- petent person in Munich who understands enough Danish to be able to translate it. Such an one would also be necessary in 'regard to the above-mentioned works of other Danish authors, as I should only be able to give you these in the original. Perhaps you will favour me with a letter. It would give me unutterable pleasure to hear that the Danish literature of my native country had reached nearer to the South than is the case at present, as well as that the German stage will receive some fresh branches from the North. in the hope of meeting you again in a few months, of cordially pressing your hand, and being able to tell you much of the good and beautiful in the North, I send you my thanks and regards. H. C. Andersen. 3o8 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEn's Andersen to the Grand-Duke of Weimar. Glorup, near Nyborg, in Funen, 2nd July 1853. In the interior of Jutland, just as I am about to leave for FUnen, I read in the paper, to my gfeat sorrow, that you, my dear Grahd-Duke, have lost your good, noble father. I know how painful it is to lose anyone that one loves, and ta whom one is strongly attached. The departed are better off than we who live, and we obtain yet another friend in the Heaven for which we long. I sLppfeciate the grief of the son, the faithful, lovirig son, the man with a noble heart like yours, on account of which your Royal Highness is so dear to me. A great and sacred sphere of activity is now opened up before you, my dear, dear Grand-Duke. God strengthen and lead you to Him to whom all hearts are open. In the new activity of your life I shall probably hear from you less often, but I firmly CQIIRESPONPENCE. 309 believe in you, and that I live in your thoughts, as you have grown into my soul. In Denmark, — that is to say, in Copen- hagen, — there i^ now a. time of tribulation. The cholera is ragiijg, and I live in constant anxiety about my friends there. They and the doctor desire me not to return till the end of the epidemic. I am therefore going to Silkeborg in Jutland, where I shall remain for the present. But perhaps the disease may reach there, it is already on the island of Falster. God's will be done ! I have had enough happiness and joy in this world, and have won many true and noble friends, among whom you stand foremost, my dear Grand-Duke. You are on the threshold of an active and happy life. God bless you and your house. Give youf Royal mother my heartful sym- pathy and respectful devotion. God be with you! H. C. Andersen, S-IO HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S Andersen to the Grand-'Duke of Weimar. Copenhagen, ■2.2nd November 1853. In the interior of Jutland, on the beautiful Silkeborg, I received your welcome letter, and replied at once in a grateful frame of mind. Now I am in my Copenhagen sur- roundings. The cholera is over, all are well and healthy, the theatres are filled, social life begins, and everything again has the same familiar appearance. The night before last I had the honour and pleasure of speaking to the young Princess of Hesse.^ The widowed Queen Caroline Amelia had invited me to tea, and was gracious enough to personally introduce me to the young Princess. I was obliged to read some of my fairy tales aloud, and above all in German ; but I hope they will soon be able to read the Danish edition, for the peculiarities of these works cannot be re- peated in another language. 1 Princess Anna, daughter of Prince Carl of Prussia, CORRESPONDENCE. 3 I I Last week was my jubilee. It is twenty- five years ago this year since I became a student. Of late years it has become the fashion for all the men who matriculate in the same year to gather at a large dinner to celebrate the past twenty-five years. At this assemblage, curiously enough, we students of 1828, as we used to say jokingly to each other then, had four great and twelve little poets among us — there were really sixteen who had published verses at that time. Now after the lapse of twenty- five years it is said that I, who was, even at that time, reckoned the greatest among my comrades, am also the only one who has stuck to poetry, and of the then twelve little poets only one has become great, — namely Paludan Miiller, author of the delightful poem, "Adam Homo." At this year's commemoration, Clarsen, the former Danish minister, proposed a graceful toast to young literature in Denmark, and alluded particularly to Paludan Miiller and myself Further, all the other comrades who are now officials, town councillors, clergymen. 3 I 2 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S ai|d landed proprietors, agreed to found a sort of memorial of this student-yeajr, and to collect a sum of money, the interest of which would in time be devoted to a young Danish pogt without a recognised positiori. The fund is to receive the name of " The Aijdersen-Paludan-Muller Legacy." The idea is happy, and I rejoice at the recognition of my university friends. For the most part I live pretty quietly, as the new Danish edition of my collected works keeps me fully occupied. Our theatre is bringii|ig out rnany novelties by l^ertz, Hauch, ai>d Overskou. Mijch is expected of a new ballet by Bournonville, "A Popu- lar Tradition," with music by Niels Gade and Hartmann. The sculptor Jerichau is working at a colossal David, destined by the University to stand in front of the Church of our Lady, as a vis-q,-vis to a similar statue, " Moses," by Bissen. And now farewell, my dear Grand- Puke. Even if \ do pot soorj receive a letter froni you, I shajl yet know that your Royal Highness remernbers me with a true arid COJIRESPONDENCE. 3 I 3 sjympathising heart. Yoyr pinxiety for your people and country gla-ims yopr jime. Perhaps I may yet live to see your Royftl Highness in Denmark, where you have now relations. I beg tl^at your Royal Highness will kindly remember me tq the Gf9.pd-Duchiess and your Royal mother. H. C. Andersen. Ander§efi: to the poet S. H. Mosenthal^ in Vienna. Copenhagen, i%th January 1854. Dear Herr Mosenthai., — In Oetober I received your friendly letter, with a copy of " The Sonnwendhof," which you have so confidently placed at my "complete disposal." '^ Mosenthal (Solomon Herman), dramatic poet, of Jewish extraction, born 14th January 1821, at Cassel. All his dramas are pleyfif and effective, but they aj-e said to l^e lacking in psychological truth. Hp wrote the libretti for several operas, among others Nicolai^'s " Merry Wives of Win4sor." MosemtJ)al 4ied at Vienna 17th February fl^y. 314 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN's I ought perhaps to have written to you at the time and expressed my thanks, but I was so much interested in your poetical work, and had so great a desire to attack the same at once, that I was quite convinced that this practical interest would say more than a letter. I received the child of your genius with real pleasure, and I venture to , believe, which is also acknowledged here in this country, that I have reproduced it in the Danish language as you would have com- posed it yourself in that tongue. Very little is omitted. On the contrary, I have — ac- cording to my own and the general opinion — improved the piece for our use, and also for the national stage, by giving a kind of explanation by means of added choruses and songs, for which I have chiefly used popular melodies. As soon as I had finished your piece I read it myself to the manager and the actors, and I can assure you that it was received with an appreciation and interest which was proved to be justified during all the rehearsals and at the representation. As this piece was the first novelty with which CORRESPONDENCE. 3 1 5 they thought of opening the present season, I did not wish — as several weeks had already gone by — to write to you till I could tell you how it had been received by the public. Some fresh decorative painting had to be done. The musical arrangements and some cases of illness caused the performance to be postponed for a time, but last Wednesday "The Sonnwendhof" was played, for the first time, under the Danish title, "En Lands- byhistorie" (A Village Story), which is more comprehensible to the masses. The Casino Theatre holds about. 2,500 people, and all the seats were taken. The Royal Princess, as well as the Landgraf William of Hesse, Prince Frederick William, and the Hereditary Prince Ferdinand had engaged boxes for the first performance. The piece was followed by every one with special interest, and was received with unusual en- thusiasm throughout, and particularly towards the end. An excellent young actress made her ddbut here as Monica, and contributed very largely to the success of the piece by her well-considered and artistic acting. Two 3l6 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEn's of pur most talented artists, Herr and Madame Rosenkilde, played excellently, and all the others, without exception, filled their parts well. The piece has Iseep crificiseci in the same spirit in all jthe papers I have read. It is extolled as one of the most important and best that has originated in Germany of late years. Xhe name, of Mosenthal has therefore a good reputation here in Copenhagen, and I venture to hope that the piece may soon reach Norway and Sweden. As soon as it is printed in Danish frorn my reproduction I will send you a copy. It will interest you to see how much you can understand of the Danish language now that you know the words and contents in the original. That people are able to read it here will procure still greater recognition for your works in this country, which you so highly deserve, and I feel myself especially rewarded, for I see a work known and prized of which I recognised the merit on the first and only occasion when I saw }t abrpad.- In the fina) scene J have made Anrja snatch a piece of burning wood from the COSRESPONDfeNCE. ^ t 7 hestrth and illuminate Mathias with it, by which the memory of the "Sohg of the Forge" becomes still clearer to bcith, arid this noVelty was proved ctt the represeritsltion to be fine arid impressive. I send yOU a prograrrime of the performance urider a wrapper, which yoti will doubtless receive with this letter. The verdict of the ptiblic arid the criticism of the papers are, as youf riierit deserves, particularly attractive and Ictttdatory, and I am glad to have been able to show my cbuntryriien such a highly interesting and poetical Work as " The SoririWeridhof " Through my publisher I take the liberty of sendirig you some of my books in the Ger- man edition. — Your friend, H. C. Andersen. Andersen to the Grand- Duke of Weimar. Copenhagen, 2nd April 1854. This is my birthday. I have seen nearly all my friertds ardilhd Hie td-day. The per- 3l8 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEn's fume of the flowers which they have brought me fills my study. Outside the sun is shining so ' delightfully. On this fete day of the Danes (in commemoration of the battle on the Rhede in the year 1801), I can see from my windows all the flags floating on the ships in the harbour. A steamer is flying past with hundreds of Copenhageners who wish to visit the English fleet in the Kjogebugt, only a few miles from here ; and in the midst of this busy life my thoughts fly to the dear ones whom I would so much like to see — so very much — on this my birthday. You, my dear, noble Grand- Duke stand, it is true, so high in the world of rank, and yet my soul may fly to you when I think .of your friendship and your kind- ness to me. God bless you, noble sir ! During the winter and early spring we have had very many balls, parties, and car- nival fetes in Copenhagen, and, as I felt strong enough to accept invitations, I have participated n nearly everything. Prince Frederick of Hesse gave a large grand masked ball in February. Especially ex- CORRESPONDENCE. 319 cellent were the two quadrilles of Mousque- taires. The costumes were throughout taste- ful and magnificent. Later, in the begin- ning of March, the young artists gave a carnival for gentlemen only. A special feature of the youthful fun was an " Or- chestra from Noah's Ark," — that is to say, a collection of animals who performed a long piece of music under the direction of a clown. Among other things there was a very funny fish and a very remarkable featherless hen. After that a carnival was given in the casino for the benefit of the poor widows of artists. Several of the pro- fessors at the Academy of Art formed a committee, and I was one of them. I had written all the dramatic scenes and all the songs. The bea.utiful Pergola-Casino, with the great fountain, was turned into a garden, with excellently and artistically arranged palms, flowers, and fresh foliage from the Royal garden. The members of the Royal house and the corps diplomatique were present. The students also gave a car- nival in aid of a new club-house. In bright 320 HANS CHRISTIAN AJ^DERSEN's variety one saw comedy, tragedy, artd the ballet. Everything was short and parodied. About two thousand people moved through the large luxurious sizlons. Nd^ the spring is blowing, and it is my intention to go medio magi by Vienna to Venice, and from there to Munich and Weimar. It is true the Danish edition of my works detains me, but 1 must free my- self for six to eight Weeks, for I long to go- In a few weeks I hope, if God wills, to see your Royal Highness, arid offer you my good wishes. The joufhey will be, as I have said, a short arid quick orie, but I rtlliSt go to Weimar, if orily for a few days, to see you. I beg you to terider my respect- ful regards to your exalted Consort and Royal mother. H. C. Andersen. CORRESPONDENCE. 32 1 Andersen to Charles Dickens. ^ March 1857. My Dear Charles Dickens, — In an old manor-house a few miles from Dresden, belonging to some German friends, your welcome letter reached me. That was in the summer, and yet it is only now that my thanks wing their way to you. I do not fear, my friend, that you will doubt my real regard for you ; but I was ill abroad, returned ill to Denmark, and was thus unable to write at once. When I felt well again, I was occupied with my new novel — which I had had in my mind for two years and now for the first time committed to paper. All three volumes were in manuscript by the beginning of the New Year, then I made a fair copy of them, and they are now at last in the press. I hope the novel will appear in May, in English, German, and Danish. I believe that will surpass everything that I have 322 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S previously written, and will certainly mark a stage in my development that I have not hitherto reached. I shall he exceed- ingly happy to hear your honest opinion of it. You must thus prove your friend- ship and read the book. That you and your wife are always in my thoughts, you will perceive from my intention, God willing, of visiting you in England this summer to spend a short time with you. I beg you to send me a few lines, in April at the latest, to say whether you will , be in London this summer, and at what period I may be certain of finding you there for about a week, for it is not for London's sake I am coming to England. The visit is for you alone. You must therefore grant me a word or two, or per- haps your wife will be so kind as to write ; for without receiving this answer I shall go to Switzerland, and wait another year till I can meet you in England. " Little Dorrit " enthrals me entirely^ I would and must admire you for the sake of this one book alone, even if you had not CORRESPONDENCE. 323 previously bestowed upon the world those splendid compositions, " David Copperfield," " Nelly," ^ and the rest. When I last saw and spoke with you in England some twelve years ago, and felt a greater regard for you, if possible, than before, you presented me with your published works, which are a real treasure to me. I possess the later books, but you must give me a copy of "Little Dorrit " when we greet each other again, for it will certainly never find a more appreciative admiring reader than myself. Heaven grant that my " To Be or Not to Be " may raise me a step higher as an author in your opinion. Keep a corner in your heart for me. Kind remembrances to your dear wife, and children, who still dwell in my memory as little ones, although they are now big, and have grown twelve years older ! God's blessing and delight be yours, as you delight us all ! — Your faithful H. C, Andersen. ^ This is apparently meant for little Nell in " The Old Curiosity Shop;" 324 HANS C. ANDERSEN'S CORRESPONDENCE. Charles Dickens to Andersen. Tavistock House, London, jr^^/«7 1857. Mv Dear Hans Andersen, — I received your welcome letter the day before yester- day, and immediately proceed to answer it. I hope my answer will at once decide you to make your summer visit to us. We shall not be at home here in London itself after the first week of June, but we shall be at a little country house I have, only twenty-seven miles away. It is on a line of railroad, and within an hour and a half of London, in a very beautiful part of Kent. You shall have a pleasant room there with a charming view, and shall live as quietly and wholesomely as in Copenhagen itself If you should want, at any time while you are with us, to pass the night in London, this house, from the roof to the cellar, will be at your disposal. A servant, who is our friend also, who lived with us many years and is now married, will be CHARLES DICKENS. HANS C. ANDERSEN'S CORRESPONDENCE. 327 taking care of it ; and she will take care of you too with all her heart. So, pray, make up your mind to come to England. We shall be at this place I mention, within an hour and a half's ride, all through the summer, and if you will let me know when we may expect you, we shall look forward to that time with most cordial pleasure. I am very much interested in what you tell me of your new novel, and you may be very sure that it will have no more attentive and earnest reader than it will find in me. I am impatient for its publica- tion. "Little Dorrit" at present engages me closely. I hope to finish her story by about the end of this month, and that done you will find me in the summer quite a free man, playing at cricket and all manner of English open-air games. The two little girls you saw at Broad- stairs, when you left England, are young women now, and my eldest boy is more than twenty years old. But we have children of all sizes, and they all love you. You 328 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S will find yourself in a house full of admir- ing and affectionate friends, varying from three feet high to five feet nine. Mind, you must not think any more of going to Switzerland. You must come to us. With kind regard from all my family, believe me, my dear Andersen, affection- ately and cordially yours, HARLES Dickens. Andersen to Charles Dickens. Copenhagen, i4.th April 1857. My Dear Charles Dickens, — Your letter has made me infinitely happy ! It has quite possessed me ; I am overcome with joy at the thought of being with you for a short time, of living in your house and forming one of your circle ! You do not know how much I value it, and how, in my heart, I thank God, yourself, and your wife ! Tell her, tell your children big and little, • CORRESPONDENCE. 329 what a festival that will be for me ; and yet in the midst of my infinite joy I have one sorrow. Yes, I may just as well say it, for it is a thing that will be noticed directly we meet, and that is, that I speak English very badly-^yes, I fear even worse than the last time I found myself in your family circle. At that time I had been, three months in England, and now I have not been there for twelve years, and here at home I have had no practice, and am coming over to you direct from my Danish fatherland ! I shall express myself like a veritable Kasper Hauser, and I am rather despairing about it ; but my longing and affection will endeavour to speak to you as well as possible. I shall overcome both my fear, as well as my vanity, at not being able to speak well, and am also convinced that I shall hourly make grand progress in your mother tongue once I am with you. I think of joining you on the lOth or 12th of June, but you will receive more definite news regarding the day of my arrival. You will doubtless inform me during the 330 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S first weeks of May of the address, at what railway station I must alight between Dover and London, and where I shall then find your house. The conclusion of " Little Dorrit " I shall not be able to read till I am in England, but how splen- did to do so in your home ! God rejoice you for this book and for everything that you have already given to the world. You have an extraordinary large circle of admirers and friends high up in the North, though I believe no one can love you more sincerely than L But how much of blessing and sunshine do you not throw into my life ! Only do not lose patience because I express myself in English with difficulty, and brokenly. I should not be able to say exactly what I wished, even if I were to speak English like an Englishman. Kind regards to your wife, daughters, and sons ! God willing, we shall then see each other in June. H. C. Andersen. CORRESPONDENCE. 331 Andersen to the Queen- Dowager Caroline Amelia of Denmark. Gadshill Place, Near Rochester, Kent, lii^h July 1857. Your Majesty, conferred upon me the high honour and sincere pleasure of per- mitting me to write to your Majesty from -,abroad. I have now been in England five weeks, and have spent the whole time with Charles, Dickens in his charming villa at Gadshill, a place which Shakespeare has rendered famous by his Falstaff, who is mentioned in the first part of Henry IV. The whole landscape is like a garden, and from the hills one can follow the winding of the Thames for many a mile, and, look- ing far over woods and fields, catch a glimpse of the sea. There is a scent of wild roses and ivy here, the air is so fresh too, and inside the house itself happy people live. Dickens is one of the most amiable men that I know, and possesses as 332 HANS C. ANDERSEN'S CORRESPONDENCE. much heart as intellect. The recently de- ceased author Jerrold left his widow with- out means. Dickens has interested himself on her behalf, and through a committee, including the names of Dickens, Bulwer, etc., some readings and private theatricals have been given, which have brought in altogether a sum of over ;^20oo sterling. Dickens was very much pleased at the large amount, which will be a support for the poor widow. Your Majesty will cer- tainly have read in the papers of a perform- ance which was given in th^ " Gallery of Illustration" for the first timfe in the pre- sence of the Queen of England, the King of the Belgians, Prince Albert, and the Royal suite. Only fifty other . persons, all invited guests, among, whom I found my- self, shared the ' enjoyment of this repre- sentation. Everything was arranged on a very magnificent scale. The rarest, most magnificent flowers decorated the passages and stairs. The piece itself — "The Frozen Deep " — is very, interesting, and was only performed before in Dickens' house by. the LORD LYTTON. HANS C. ANDERSEN'S CORRESPONDENCE. 33S same ladies and gentlemen who acted in it here. Dickens showed himself to be a most excellent actor both in tragedy and comedy. A farce called " Two O'clock in the Morning" brought the evening to a close. Dickens' two daughters, Mary and Katie, played the two ladies' parts naturally and well. Afterwards I saw " The Frozen Deep " played by professionals at a public performance, and with all admiration for Signora Ristori, I must acknowledge that Dickens is far more effective than she is on the stage, for he is easier in his manners. The best that I have seen of this admired tragic actress is her representation of Lady Macbeth. The last scene, in which she dies, is so harrowing, so grand, that this alone would make her fame as an artist. A son of the actor Kean is at present manager of one of the London theatres. His repu- tation consists in the artistic, glittering scenery with which he has mounted Shake- speare's plays. I have among other pieces seen " The Tempest," in which I can al- most say that one scenic wonder follows 336 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S another ; but one forgets Shakespeare in the pleasure of the spectacle. I have received many invitations here, but my visit in England this time is only to Dickens, therefore I have not gone to London, and have not been presented to the Queen, but will reserve this , happiness for a future visit, so that I may then have something special to look forward to. "If you are presented to the Queen," Count Reventlow said to me, " many in- vitations will follow ; " and from the numer- ous engagements which I had to fulfil day after day the last time I was on a visit to London, I was nearly made ill. The air is so heavy, the coal smoke so oppressive, and the heat almost unbearable. I shall there- fore wisely confine this visit to the country. The railway passes close by here, and it was on this line, on the evening before I paid a visit to Dickens in town, that the great collision happened which has been mentioned in the papers. Twelve persons were killed and twenty-four injured. The railway company will have a sum of CORRESPONDENCE. 337 ^70)000 Sterling to pay the relatives of the passengers who were killed. Near Gadshill Place is' Lord Darnley's seat, with, the old castle, where Queen EHzabeth often visited Leicester.' In the neighbourhood there is a pretty village church, which formerly belonged to a nun- nery. The church singing I find prettier than ours at home. The same melody is sung to every psalm, but so wonderfully gentle and soft. This moved me very much the first time I visited the church. On the other hand the service was too long, and lasted nearly two hours. I cannot maintain the devotional frame of mind which I consider fitting to divine service for so long a time. The good old fashion of saying grace before meals is still observed in Dickens house : it is said by either Dickens or his eldest daughter. But I fear that I have already tired my noble Queen with my letter, which contains so little ; but if I could express in words all the devotion, gratitude, and affection 338 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S which I feel for your Majesty in my heart, these written sheets would then not con- tain so little ! God bless and protect your Majesty. H. C. Andersen, Andersen to Miss Henrietta Wulff. Gadshill Place, Hicham, near Rochester, Kent.^ (No date.) My Dear Sister and Friend, — Thurs- day evening, the 4th of June, I left Den- mark. Captain Lund let me have his cabin, so I was all right, and arrived at Kiel with- out being sea-sick. The first day it was frightfully hot, and I only reached Uelzen in Hanover, slept there, went the next day to Hamm, and the following day to Co- logne. The heat had half killed me : my spirits were heavy, the journey oppressive, and on the Monday I did not go farther ^ See Shakespeare, Henry IV., 2nd vol. CORRESPONDENCE. 339 than Aachen. Here it was cold, and from the moment I entered Belgium the cloud over my spirits lifted. I got again into my old travelling humour, slept a night in Brussels, and at three o'clock in the morn- ing I crossed from Calais to Dover. I was very ill. It blew a gale, and up till now the wind has been so high and cold that I have every day been wearing my winter clothes. It is like the coldest autumn, and yet there is bright sunshine. From Dover I went at once by train to London, and I was told there that a train would leave for Higham in a minute. I changed carriages at once, but was not certain whether Dickens had got my letter from Brussels, and about ten o'clock in the morning (it was Thursday, the 1 1 th) I arrived at Higham, a little village with only one solitary house near the station. Here a man asked me, while I was standing alone on the road, if I was going to Dickens' ? I said yes, and asked him to get me a carriage, but it was impossible to find one. I had announced , my arrival for 340 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S the evening or for the next morning, and thus came quite unexpectedly. The man, however, took my portmanteau and all my things on his truck, and we walked about a mile and a half along a pretty lane to the high road between Gravesend and Ro- chester. Here was " Gadshill' Place," Dickens' residence, a pretty little villa, with trimmed hedges and a lot of laurus corasus. The reception was most cordial. Dickens took me in his arms. Later on his wife and children came. I have got a beautiful room, and from my window I can look down over Higham towards the Thames, which swarms with ships. Dickens looks older, and has grown a beard; And do you know who he is like at home ? The artillery officer Hazthansen, only more lively than I have ever seen the latter. Mrs. Dickens 1 find pretty this time, and the eldest daughter, Mary, is like her. The second, Kate", has decidedly Dickens' face, such as you know from his portrait. There are three sons in Boulogne and four at home ; the youngest, Edward Lytton Bulwer CORRESPONDENCE, 341 Dickens, is five years old. All the children have been named , after, poets; the eldest is called Charles Dickens, the second Walter Landor (he starts in four weeks' time for Calcutta, where he is to be an officer, and stays away for seven years). Then come the sons at Boulogne : Francis Jeffrey, Alfred Tennyson, Sydney Smith, and' at home the two youngest, Henry Fielding and Edward Bulwer. Little Henry was the one who Hked me best. Their family life seemed so intimate, and a young lady. Miss Hogarth, who has been in the house for many years, pours out the tea and coffee, plays with the young Misses Dickens, and seems to be a very amiable and well-bred lady. Dickens himself is like the best character in his books — jolly, lively, happy, and cordial. I understand him best, as regards the language. And now I have just been here eight days, and he says I am making astonishing progress in speaking English ; every hour it gets better. But now I am speaking without any fear, 9.{id even the little ones begin to under- 3-42 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S Stand me. Last Sunday I went to church with Dickens, Miss Hogarth, Walter, and Henry. The service was long, and we had to walk more than half a Danish mile out and home. I understood the psalms and hymns, but not the parson. Douglas Jerrold was buried last Monday. Dickens followed, and I then went with him to his house in London — Tavistock House. From there I drove with Mrs. Dickens and the daughters to the Crystal Palace, where the first grand Handel Festival, with or- chestra and singers, in all 2000, took place. Handel's " Messiah " was sung to an audience of over 12,000, who had each paid two guineas (about twenty dollars Danish) for the ticket. Dickens' family and I were seated right opposite the Royal box. The leading director of the Crystal Palace conducted us to our seats, and we dined with him and his wife afterwards. It was like Aladdin's Palace, or rather like a fairy town, with glass streets, flowers, and statues in the whole building. Beautiful lotus, red, blue, and white, were growing in the bro^d CORRESPONDENCE. 343 marble canals. The music sounded so strangely that my head whirled — I almost wanted to cry. Outside, the fountains were playing, rainbows were formed in the stormy weather. It was as if we were in Undine's kingdom. Never, with the exception of the blue grotto, have I seen anything more fairy-like. About half-past nine we re- turned to London and went at once to the theatre, where Ristori appeared in the tragedy " Camma." I felt no enthusiasm, though she is a great artist I admit. Her movements are as in a ballet. Everything was pointed to the highest degree, but no doubt it was right and true Italian. Dickens also is not captivated with her. The next day Mrs. Dickens and the daughters went back to Gadshill Place, and I went to Piccadilly, where Walter and I were asked to Miss Coutts' house. This is the most ele- gant house I have seen as yet. Miss Bur- dett Coutts is one of the richest ladies in England. Dickens said that her fortune was immense, and Hambro mentioned her yearly income as being so large, that I don't 344 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S seem to understand it rightly. I think it was ^100,000. But she is at all events very benevolent, builds churches, spends plenty of money in charities, and does an immense amount of good. I slept here last night in a bedroom, the like of which I had never seen before. There was a bright fire and costly carpets, and from the windows one looked out to the garden and to Piccadilly, The large house was more than royal, and at dinner and in the evening the whole fashionable world of London was present. Yesterday at luncheon Admiral Napier was sitting at my side. He enquired after several people in Copenhagen. Miss Coutts wished me to see her garden outside London. She drove me there yesterday. What splen- dour ! What an abundance of flowers, and a view of London — so wonderful ! She is very straightforward, amiable, and good-natured in the highest degree, and I could speak much better to her than to her servants, who are too haughty. I asked her for every little thing. I wanted, even soda-water. We spoke German together, COilRESPONDENCE. 345 but with all the others I spoke English. There were splendid pictures in the house, statues, and costly works. The visit to the garden was the cause of Walter and I get- ting too late to the- railway station, where we had to wait an hour-and-a-half last night. This letter will, of course, be read by the whole family at home, and I send them all my best regards. I hope your brother-in- law is tolerably well. Tell your sister how often I think of her. I shall be glad if, when you have read the letter, you will let lyirs. Laessoe read it. She shall soon hear from me, and I can then tell her more things about England than this contains. You must not let the newspapers get hold of this letter. You know yourself it is con- fidential, and speaks about the family life here, which is so lovely, and it ought to ap- pear in quite another style for the unsympa- thetic world. Mrs. Dickens is so gentle, so motherly, quite like Agnes in " David Copperfield." The daughters are pretty and unaffected, and seem very gifted, 346 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S Dickens went to London this morning. He is very busy with the performances which are to be given for the benefit of Jerrold's widow. One day he will read his Christmas story ; another, there is to be a theatrical performance, in which Dickens, Bulwer, Thackeray, and other authors will take part, also Dickens' eldest daughter, Mary, who has great dramatic talents. Last night, when I read your letter, I told Dickens and his family about you, how much you like him, told him about your brother Christian, and your trip to America, and Dickens and his family listened with much sympathy. It is very fresh out here in the country. It is a part which is not much visited, but still not lonely. There are fine walks and an oak forest close by. My silhouettes are much sought after, and I have received several letters asking for my autograph. From a countryman, a merchant, Hald, in Man- chester, I ha,ve received an invitation to stay and visit the exhibition, but I can't go. Hambro, as well as Bentley, has invited me, CORRESPONDENCE. 347 and probably I am going ;" still, I don't think I shall be so cosy as I am here. In Dickens' home' in London I saw in the bedroom Thorwaldsen's " Night," and in our break- fast-room his " Day." There were beautiful pictures, and on the mantelpiece was my portrait, which I had enclosed in a letter to him. Here in the country I found books on my table tO read : " The Fairy Family," " The Thousand and One Nights," " Sir Roger de Coverley" of the Spectator, and "Works of W. Irving." You see what Dickens , thinks would be according to my taste. Arm-in-arm Dickens and I walked through the streets of London. We met many, all knew me, and two used the ex- pression, "Andersen, father of all children!" So you see I have an immense family. I wish you could be sitting here for an hour at the supper table when we are chatting^ and Dickens tells me so much, and seems to agree with me about most things. Outside the house is a large clover field. The sons and I are often lying there. There is a fragrance of clover, the elder tree is in 348 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S blossom, and the wild roses have an odour of apples, so fresh and strong. I do not at all feel as if I am in a foreign land, but as if I were at home. But now I think I have been chatting too much about myself; though you say that you like best to hear that. About the theatre at home, about Bournonville, and the news of the town, etc., you don't get anything this time. You have yourself declined it. It was news to me to hear about Dorph's dis- missal. Please write soon, and don't let the letter be too short. This is a long letter. You must be satisfied with the contents. Now, God bless you ! and remember me to all the dear ones at home.^ — Your brotherly friend, H. C. Andersen. " To Be or Not to Be " is published ; but as yet I have heard nothing about the book. CORRESPONDENCE. 349 Andersen to Miss Henrietta Wulff. Paris, \<^thjuly 1857. My Dear Sister and pRiEND.^Yesterday afternoon I arrived here in " sun-heated " Paris, where I feel lonely, strange, not at all as in London, or rather in the home of Dickens. The change is too ,great in comparison to England and Germany. Still I am not unknown in France, but strange. Yesterday at the Railway Station at Amiens I bought a French edition of my fairy tales. I saw my name peeping out from the book-shelves. Early this morning I rode to Dirckinck Holmfield and found the two letters which you have so kindly sent to me, and am so glad that yOu are not going across the ocean, but to Hastings. I should already like to leave Paris to-day ; but as I was rash enough to give my washing to the laundress, and cannot get it back till Monday, I must stay here in this rumbling hot town, where 35° HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S I am sitting all alone in a poky little room. Last Wednesday, the t5th July, I left the family of Dickens in Gadshill Place. I did not pass through London, but Maid- stone, whither Dickens himself drove me in a little carriage, we two all alone. I did not speak much — I was sad. He was like a dear brother up to the last moment. He looked sadly at me when we parted, kissed me, and — I travelled alone in the steam serpent to Folkstone — I had to wait a couple of hours for the steamer before she started, and some hours afterwards I saw France. I felt as deeply grieved as if I had left one of my dear ones whom I should never see again. The hot weather caused me to stay in Amiens, and only yesterday, in , company with an English- family, to whom I was continually speaking English, I arrived in Paris. I do not feel inclined to read, nor to write. The criticism in " Fadrelandet," together with the heat, weighs heavily on me. I wish you had cut it out of the paper. It is better to know CORRESPONDENCE. 35 1 the actual words than to imagine them. Cut the criticism out and send it to Dresden (if there is anything good in it, and surely there must be some). I wish I were in Germany. I dread to get ill here in France. Still, enough about my Inner self. A little more of Shakespeare's land, where I am not a stranger, but the " poet " of Den- mark. Albert Smith's party was in the suburbs of London, where he has a large house, and lives with his brother, a young, handsome, and interesting man. We dined in the garden in a large tent on the lawn, and drank champagne from big cups. Dickens was so full of life. Mark Lemon, the editor of " Punch," a jolly elderly man, embraced me continually, and playfully accused me of being satirical. I cannot give his English words. In the evening the garden was illuminated with lights in bottles. A young English singer was invited, together with several other ladies who sang charmingly. The stars twinkled beautifully ; it was glorious. Dickens told 352 HANS C. ANDERSEN'S CORKESPONDENCE, me how glad he was that a large sum had been collected for Jerrold's widow. His eyes sparkled. A moment later I read in one of the many papers which were lying about "that Dickens had done it all from vanity — he desired to make himself popular. Horrible ! It brought tears to my eyes. How unkind is the world in its judgments! Oh, God ! if I do the same without think- ing, then may the Lord forgive me as I forgive. Albert Smith is one of the most amiable men I have ever met. You can have con- fidence in him, and that is what other people say about him. In Dickens' house Dickens was absolutely the pearl ; Mrs. Dickens so kind and good ; Mary next cared most for me, and so down to the younger ones. I was at home there, and I have a home ! Poor Paris, thou can'st not help it that I feel as if I were in a little dungeon or put on the floor in a hot oven over a steam- mill. I could breathe more freely under the weeping willow at St. Helena. I have had a letter from Holland. My MARK LEMON. [From a Photogriiph by Mazall* HANS C. ANDERSEN'S CORRESPONDENCE. 355 works will be published there in thirty volumes, with my portrait. How strange that all my books are flying over the world, and at home I am so little appreciated — am still only a poor schoolboy, always in the lowest form ! If I am wronged, Denmark, it is thy shame ! Still, I have just said, I forgive, as I wish to be forgiven. Oh, Lord ! my heart is warm, my feelings are so strong ! You do not know how much I suffer. And still I would not be without this "to be," no matter how bitter it even may be ! God bless you ! Remember me kindly to your sister and all at home. — Your brother, H. C. Andersen. Andersen to the Grand- Duke of Weimar. Maxen, near Dresden, gth August 1857. For a long time I have not written to your Royal Highness. The reason I have 356 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S not done so is revealed in the pages of the new book, " To Be or Not to Be," which I sent some time ago to your Royal Highness from Leipzig. None of my works have demanded so much preparatory study as this one. I have lived in the book, written it, and then re- written it again and again. If your Royal Highness could find time to look through this book you would perhaps acknowledge it to be my best, most deeply thought-out work, and be satisfied with its author. You will also understand and forgive me for not always visibly expressing on paper my true devoted thoughts, and my affection for you. Like the " Nightingale," of the fairy tale, which always flies away from the castle but ever returns after long flights abroad, and sings from the, heart for its Emperor, so I also return to home-like Weimar, and I know that I shall never be scared away by a disdainful look. When I had finished my book it was the middle of May, and I was invited to the summer castle of my noble Queen, CORRESPONDENCE. 357 the widow of Christian VIII. I spent several days there, watching the beeches unfold their buds and burst into leaf, and reading my new book aloud. I saw tears in the Queen's eyes. Her thanks were so sincere and fervent, it was the first joy that my book had brought me. At the end of May I left Denmark. Charles Dickens had already invited me several times to go to England. Ten years had now passed since I was there and met your Royal Highness and your Consort. This year Dicken's invitation was still more cordial and pressing. He had just bought a pretty house in the country, in North Kent, he wrote, where we could spend weeks to- gether, and he had also just finished his latest work, " Little Dorrit." I travelled to England and was received there with great warmth and sincerity, and remained five weeks in the home of the author and friend. It is a beautiful house situated at Gads- hill, which Shakespeare has rendered fa- mous through Henry IV. and Falstaff. The old highway.from London to Dovei* is 3S8 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S close by. From the hill one looks down upon the sea, Rochester, and the Thames for miles long, which, with his thousand ships, winds in and out like a serpent. All around there was the scent of wild roses, may, and lilac ; in the meadows the hay stood in stacks, and inside the house all was happiness. Dickens is forty-five years old, cheerful, amiable, noble, and good. However highly I may place him as an author, I must prize him just as highly as an actor in tragedy, as well as in comedy. Your Royal Highness will have read recently in the papers of the private performance he gave before the Queen. The whole Royal farnily and the King of the Belgians were there. Beyond these there were scarcely more than forty people, whom Dickens had invited by per- mission of the Queen, and I was one of them. The Duke of Somerset had sent his gardener to decorate all the passages magnificently with rare flowers. It was a beautiful sight. I went several times to London with Dickens, and stayed all night at his luxuri- CORRESPONDENCE. 359 ous house, and visited all the most interest- ing entertainments going on at the tirtie. I heard Handel's " Messiah " sung by 2000 voices at the Crystal Palace, and saw Ristori as Gemma, and twice as Lady Macbeth. She only carried me away in the latter role. Her mimic art seems to me to belong rather to the ballet than the drama. Her transit frorn hate to love is as rapid as a transformation scene. I also saw "The Tempest," with really magical scenery; but unfortunately Shakespeare vanished in the enjoyment of the eye. One forgot the poet in the wonderful decorations, and re- turned home as empty as if one had been viewing a panorama. I went to France by the way of Folke- stone. This country has never pleased me very much, and still less now. After com- ing from a home such as Dickens', Paris seems to me like a bee-hive without honey. I only remained there three days, and hur- ried to Germany. Just as I arrived at Eisenach, while you were in Wilhelmsthal, I learned that the Emperor of Russia had 2,60 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S arrived on the very same morning, on a visit to your Royal Highness. I then went on directly to Dresden, and on the same day left for Silesia with the Serre family, on a visit to the celebrated pianist, Henselt. But, first of all, from Leipzig I sent my new book, as the author's visiting card, to the Royal house, as a nosegay for you, my noble sir! Frau Serre has told me of her pleasant meeting with your Royal Highness on the steamer, and commissions me to express her thanks for your Royal Highness's gracious letter. The major and his wife are charm- ing people ; they do everything possible for me here in Maxen. What a 'beautiful world it is ! How good people are ! But I must now return home. I have already been absent far too long ; but through report and writing I am still with you in spirit ! and if your Royal Highness has read "To Be or Not to Be," I shall receive a few words in Copenhagen. On the 3rd of September, when the monument will be unveiled, my thoughts CORRESPONDENCE. 361 will turn to Weimar. I shall hear the sing- ing through the grounds of the Wartburg, and shall think of Carl Alexander ! To be there personally would be still nicer, but I must renounce that idea. The Royal Dan- ish Theatre begins its representations on the 1st of September, and I have business connected with it, so must absolutely be present. To go to Weimar every year — I was there last year and the year before — might also easily tend to wear out my welcome. It is, therefore, quite fortunate to be obliged not to become too importunate. Farewell ! From the North the carrier pigeon goes again to dear Weimar. May happiness rest upon your home and your country ! H. C. Andersen. 362 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S Andersen to the Grand-Duke of Weimar. Maxen, near Dresden, \\th August 1857. Your welcome letter has given me great pleasure, and proves your goodness. Your Royal Highness expresses a wish "that I should come to the fete, or war will be declared." This overcomes all obstacles, and I will come — not on account of the festivities, but to prove my gratitude and devotion to you. I am writing to-day to Copenhagen, to say that I shall not arrive there till the 9th or the loth. , I shall come to Weimar at the end of August, and will remain, as your Royal Highness wishes me, until the morning of the 7th ; then I must leave. My only anxiety is, that when I arrive at Weimar or Eisenach all the hotels may be full, as is to be ex- pected at such a fete, and then what am I to do? In this case I shall certainly betake myself to the lord of the land. In the " Fairy Tale of my Life" I have mentioned CORRESPONDENCE. 363 the 5th of September as a fateful day for me. Every year I celebrate this day quietly. It was on the 5th of September that I came, a poor child, for the first time to Copenhagen. Then my battles and struggles began. By chance I also went over the Alps to Italy on the 5th of September for the first time, and from there, by means of the " Improvisatore," my name as an author was established in foreign countries. And yet again, on the 5th of September, I was present at the table of my dearly-beloved King, Christian VIII., in the island of Fohr. It was the twenty-fifth anniversary of my first arrival in Copen- hagen. The, King stood by me like a friend, if I may say so, and was sympathetic and good. He spoke of my achievements, and of what I had overcome. Now I am once more to quietly celebrate my fete with you, my dear Grand- Duke, whom I honour more than you can imagine. It will be a new pleasure and remembrance for me. God preserve you ! Give your Royal Consort my most sincere thanks for her gracious remembrances which 364 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S she sent me through your Royal High- ness. Frau Serre is very much gratified by the Grand-Duke's greeting, and takes the liberty of returning the same. H. C. Andersen. Charles Dickens to Andersen. Gadshill Place, Hicham, by Rochester, Wednesday, snd September 1857. My Dear Andersen, — I have been away from here — at Manchester — which Is the cause of this slow and late reply to .your two welcome letters. You are in your own home again by this time, happy to see its familiar face, I do not doubt, and happy in being received with open arms by all good Danish men, women, and children. Everything here goes on as usual. Baby (too large for his name this long while !) calls " auntie "all over the house. CORRESPONDENCE. 365 and the dogs come dancing about us, and go running down the green lanes before us, as they used to do when you were here. But the days are shorter and the evenings are darker, and when we go up to the monument to see the sunset, we are obhged to go directly after dinner, and it gets dark while we are up there, and as we pass the grim dog, who rattles his chain, we can hardly see his dim old eyes as we feed him with biscuit. The work- men, who have been digging in that well in the stableyard so long, have found a great spring of clear, bright water, and they got rather drunk when they found it (not with the water, but with some gin I gave them), and then they packed up their tools and went away, and now the big dog and the raven have all that place to themselves. The corn-fields that were golden when you were here are ploughed up brown. The hops are being picked, the leaves on the trees are just begirining to turn, and the rain is falling as I write- very sadly — very steadily. 366 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S We have just closed our labour in re- membfance of poor Jerrold, and we have raised for his vi^idow and daughter two thousand pounds. , On Monday I am going away (with Collins) for a fortnight or so into odd corners of England, to write some descriptions for "Household Words." When I come back I shall find them dining here by lamplight. And when I come back I will write to you again. I never meet any of the friends whom you saw here but they always say, " How's Andersen.'' — where's Andersen?" — and I draw imaginary pictures of where you are, and declare that you desired to be heartily remembered to them. They are always pleased to be told this. I told old Jerdans so, the other day, when he wrote to me, asking when he was to come and see you. All the house send you their kind regards. Baby says you shall not be put out of the window when you come back. I have read "To Be or Not to Be," and think it a very fine book — full of a good purpose, admirably wrought out — a book in every way CORRESPONDENCE. 367 worthy of its great author. Good-bye, dear Andersen. Affectionately your friend, Charles Dickens. Andersen to Miss Henrietta Wulff. Cassel, dth September 1857. My Dear Sister and Friend, — This day thirty-eight years ago I, a poor child, arrived at Copenhagen. To-day I arrived here in the town of Cassel, from Weimar. Cassel is just the town my old grandmother spoke about, and told me that her grandmother was once a grand lady there, " but she eloped with a' strolling player, and from that day none of her kindred would, acknowledge her." Per- haps they would now acknowledge her child. This thought fills me now while I am sitting here in this dull town. Your letter — the second to Weimar — I received last night as I went to the last f^te in the theatre — a concert of Liszt's, Thanks, my heartfelt thanks, for 368 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S the affectionate letter, I read it over again in the theatre, as otherwise the music would have killed me. Everything was Liszt. I could not follow this wildness — this, as I think, thoughtless composition. They played with the cymbals, and I thought a plate had dropped. But the audience was in raptures, and it rained wreaths ! It is a strange world! Since I left Maxen I have not been quite well. For the moment I have gdt a cold, so I am scarcely able to speak. This I caught again this year from the festivities in Weimar, the . heat and the draught : those two will kill me. I have sent the programme in a letter to Bille. I think it will be in " Dagbladet." You can read it there — there is not a word about me — and then I will speak to you only about myself, and how true and good the reigning Grand- Duke always is towards me. The whole family is so kind to me, and treat me as if I. belonged to the house. The Grand- Duke embraced rne, — kissed me on both cheeks when I came and when I left, — and at all the festivities where we met (and he walked about and spoke to everybody) he al- CORRESPONDENCE. 369 ways shook hands with me. You may say "it is very Httle," but I repeat "it is very much indeed from a man Hke him, educated in the strictest etiquette!" This morning I was sitting with him. He wanted me to go to Wartburg, whither he went with Piicklu- Muskau, but I told him I would rather go home; and when I again visit Germany I have been invited by the Governor of Wart- burg to stay a couple of days as his guest, where Luther has been. What a contrast I feel it ; still I am glad. This morning I re- ceived the silver and bronze medal for the Carl August centenary. I have made the acquaintance of Schiller's family, and they have invited me to their estate. They all say that I am remarkably like Schiller, and I cannot deny that, as the Schiller-Goethe monument was unveiled, — you know that both poets stand on one pedestal, — I was surprised at the likeness be- tween Schiller's bust and my own. It is a splendid work of Rietschel's. I have made his acquaintance here. He seems of a kindred nature to Bissen! The three dramatic nota- 370 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S bilities, — Emil Devrient, Davison, and Mi-ss Seebach, — assisted at the festivals, and all three received me most cordially. So do all the German authors who are gathered here, especially Auerbach, the excellent author of "Dorfgeschichten." At court they paid rne very great attention, and — I dare only tell you this — on the railway there happened to- day what has happened before. When people hear that I am Danish they speak about Thorwaldsen, Oehlenschlager, Oersted, and when I say sadly, "They are dead," the reply is that "Andersen is still living! " I feel so small, and almost believe it is a vain dream. Oh God, can I be mentioned with these three ! At the festivities were Frau von Goethe and both her sons, Wolff and Walther. Frau von Goethe wrote me a very nice letter, thanking me for "Sein oder nicht sein." What I have written about "Faust" had pleased her. It was rather strange at the court dinner to see young Goethe, who was chamberlain-in-waiting, serving the soup. The Grand- Duke's two sisters. Princess Carl and the Princess of Prussia, have been CORRESPONDENCE. 371 here all the time. I have spoken to them several times, as well as to the foreign Princess. Remarkably enough, they know my books, and you can understand that,, when the Royal family received me so cordially, the whole court is also amiable. But still I cannot help thinking of the Danish Mr. Petersen, from the defunct "Monthly Magazine for Literature" down to poor Petersen in the columns of "Fadrelandet." If they had seen it, they would surely have spoken milder than they have done. Just in the brilliancy of the court I am thinking of these people ; they never enter my thoughts when a Dickens, a H umboldt, Liebig, or Carl Alexander presses my hand in loving sympathy. Perhaps I am not thankful enough to God when I let the small things affect me, but I believe it has its reason in my first appearance under such poor circumstances. My own life is still the strangest fairy tale. GOTTINGEN, %th September i^i'iJ. The next page I am beginning in Got- tingen, where I arrived yesterday, and went 372 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S to bed at once. I have got a very bad cold and a dreadful headache. Still I hope to reach Hanover to-day, and I shall then post this letter. I intended to write another letter to-day and enclose it, — a letter to Mathilde Oersted,— but I cannot. My head is in a whirl^I feel weak ; but you will kindly tell her and her mother how I am, and say that I always expected to hear when they arrived in Copenhagen, and would then write. I had thought to reach Copenhagen Sunday or Monday next, but it can scarcely be done. As I am now I must make shorter journeys ; and I shall stay a day or two at Basnoes or Soroe, God willing. Remember me kindly to your sister, brother-in-law, and all who still remember — Yours truly, H. C. Andersen. Hanover, Afternoon, 8th September. I arrived here with a frightful headache. Shall not pay any visits. Am not going to the theatre, but to bed, so that I can get a little more northward to-morrow. Adieu ! CORRESPONDENCE. 373 Andersen to the Grand- Duke of Weimar. Sor6e, Denmark, o.^nd Septembet 1857* I SHALL remain forever grateful to your Royal Highness for the beautiful days in Weimar, and for all the kindness and cor- diality with which you received me. Unfortunately I have been unwell since my departure from Weimar, where I took a severe chill at the festivities. I arrived, feeling ill, at Cassel, proceeded slowly by way of Gottingen, Hanover, and Hamburg to Copenhagen. I feared that it might de- velop into typhus fever, for my head felt like splitting. The cholera was in Ham- burg, but it was not much talked about. People spoke more of the cholera in Corsor, whither I was bound by steamer. We arrived very early one lovely morning, and remained a few hours in the unpleasant town, till the train left for Copenhagen. Here, too, there were a few cholera cases, and therefore my doctor wished me to leave 374 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S again immediately, and go to the country until the. winter. It was very inconvenient for me, as the Royal Theatre had just opened, and I had several pieces coming on which required my presence ; but I had to go, for even in the street where I live there were a few cases of cholera. On the Monday I went to the little university town of Soroe, eight miles from Copenhagen, but only four from Corsor. Here I have been most comfortably put up by the old Danish poet Ingemann, the Nestor of Danish poets ; but I am not yet myself, for the cold will not leave me, and I find it diffi- cult to write, especially in a foreign tongue. This is indeed written very badly, but your Royal Highness will read it with the heart, and certainly understand the true beating of mine. After our agreement and my pro- mise I could delay no longer, and must let you know where I am, how I live, and what I am doing. If you will send me a few lines soon they may be addressed to Copenhagen, for I shall return there as soon as my doctor allows me. Here, in Soroe, I CORRESPONDENCE 375 am, as I have already said, only four miles ^ from Corsor. People can arrive in two hours by rail, but the cold weather and fresh air of the last few days have brOugfht about a great improvement in that town. When at Weimar I wrote an account of the festivi- ties for one of our best papers, which has since been reprinted in several others. I shall soon send a little fairy tale in German to the " Weimar Monatsschrift," and if God wills, I shall write a long and cheerful letter, but if I must die my spirit will hover in love and gratitude over you. My most respectful greeting to her Royal Highness the Grand- Duchess. God bless and rejoice you and the house of Weimar. H. C. Andersen. Andersen to Charles Dickens. SOROE, September 1857. My Dear Dickens, — I am now again in Denmark, but was only two days in Copenha- 1 Danish mile— about 4 English miles. 3/6 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S gen, where I received your long-hoped-for letter. Thank you for it. I am again far from the town and out in the country, where my physician sent me immediately, as some cholera cases had just shown themselves on my arrival. It has also broken out in other towns, but most severely in Corsor. It is a miserable time to come home. It is as if I had come from the warm sunshine into a cold, damp cloud, and into the bargain I am unable to shake off a cold which I took at Weimar festivities. Otherwise I had a happy time there. The Grand-Duke received me as heartily and kindly as only my best and dearest friend could. I really felt that to him I was a welcome guest. He is so noble and good, I think very highly of him. People had streamed into the town from all parts of Germany round about. Flags and banners waved from towers and houses, wreaths and garlands were everywhere, and in addition the weather was fine, par- ticularly so on the day when the Wieland Statue, and afterwards the two poet-figures, CORRESPONDENCE. 377 Schiller and Goethe, both cast in bronze and standing on one and the same pedestal, were unveiled. At the theatre single acts from Schiller's and Goethe's tragedies were played, a division which I do not like. Emil Devrient, Davison, and Fr^ulein See- bach, — three of the most notable of German artistes, — contributed by their talent to the successes of the festival. Devrient, with whom I conversed a great deal, begged me to send you the warmest greeting. We talked a great deal about you and England. On September 6th I left Weimar with a severe cold and a frightful headache. I was therefore compelled to take the journey in short stages, and to stop in Cassel, Gottingen, and Hanover, as well as in Hamburg. In the latter town was the cholera, a disease which I fear the most of any. When I got to Denmark I did not escape the epidemic. It was raging in the little town of Corsor, to which the steamer from Kiel brought me ; and when, after a few hours' stay, I reached Copenhagen, my physician received me with the cjuestion as 378 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S to what I wanted there under the circum- stances. I remained, notwithstanding, two days, and then, as there were several cases, particularly in my neighbourhood, I at once went away to the little university town of Soroe, which lies in the midst of forest solitudes on the shores of a large inland lake. The Nestor of Danish poets, Inge- mann, lives here with his respected, excel- lent wife. I have now been for more than a week the guest of these dear old people. The air here, however, during this time is not at all good, and the exhalations from the lake are by no means agreeable. Corsor is scarcely two hours by rail from Copenhagen, and the trains are running daily backwards and forwards with tra- vellers. In the midst of all this depression, where thought and speech might be , so easily concentrated on what is dismal here at home, the attention is first fixed on the English in India. The course of events there is followed with tears and anxious hearts. You have now doubtless heard from Walter ? Do not forget when you writ^ CORRESPONDENCE. 379 to tell me. how he is! All my friends and acquaintances — nay, I can safely say every one who comes in contact with me — enquire most sympathetically after Charles Dickens, and all the family at Gadshill. They extol my good fortune, and envy me my visit at your house. That will also never be obliterated from my memory, and particularly you, who stand before me so unchangeable in goodness and amiability, who show no sign of variableness. How often I call to mind the kind, cordial voice with which your amiable wife told me more than once that I was truly welcome to you, and that you so much liked to have me ! I always cherished the fear that you would get tii'ed of me, — the stranger who could not speak your language properly. With such a feeling as that, one is all eyes and ears down to one's finger tips ; though I felt and understood that here, too, man and wife were of one thought and one mind. God bless you for it ! Greet your daughters and sons as well as Miss Hogarth ! May I dwell in your thoughts with friendliness, 380 ■ HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S as many pleasant memories of you float be- fore mine daily ! To the baby I send a special message, and if Turk, Dandy, and the Raven could likewise understand, I would also tie a greet- ing to them beneath the wings of the carrier pigeon. Collins promised me that I should receive "The Frozen Deep." I should have had great pleasure in seeing it represented at Copenhagen if he did not object. You promised to give me the name of the best edition of Shakespeare in one volume. Thanks for the friendly words you said to me about " To Be or Not to Be." Let me know — that is if I may know^ — if you will soon have another great work ready. I am now thinking out a new novel ! Naturally it takes place in our own 'times — I know no other. The plot is laid in Denmark. It is there where my roots are planted. Good-bye, God bless and watch over you. — Sincerely your faithful friend, H. C. Andersen, CORRESPONDENCE. 38 1 Andersen to the Grand-Duke of Weimar. Copenhagen, ^pth October 1857. A FEW days ago I arrived in Copenhagen. The cholera, it is true, has not yet quite dis- appeared, but there are only isolated cases now, — about five or six a week. On my arrival I found a letter on my table from your Royal Highness, a fresh bouquet from the Wartburg, the place of which I have just been reading so much, and whither my- thoughts so often fly, as if they were looking for a background for future composi- tion. The letter was so sincerely kind, and characteristic of yourself, my dear sir. My most hearty thanks for it. Every line breathes sincerity and genuine sympathy. I have spent the last three weeks at beautiful Basnas on the Great Belt. You already know the mediaeval castle from my former descriptions. It stands by the sea, and is surrounded by wooded hills. The weather was summer-like, and I was as com- 382 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S fortable there as it is possible to be with dear, kind friends who are also blessed with riches. And yet I yearned for my little . study at home, and my friends. In the neighbourhood of Basnas the cholera raged more than in Copenhagen. I therefore left, and have been well up till now,- and, if God wills, I shall continue so. Our old stage, ^perhaps the oldest in Europe, — has been pulled down and replaced by a better and larger one. On the first of December the representations will begih again. Until then we shall play at the little Court Theatre. There has been a split ih the theatrical world. Our best artiste, Frau Heiberg, who must certainly also be known to your Royal Highness, leaves the stage in displeasure with the management. This is really an event. Frau Heiberg can well be classed with a Ristori, a Rachel, or even a Mars. Our stage will not produce her equal for centuries. At a concert a few days ago the overture in " Tannhauser" was heard in public for the first time in this town, and was much ap- CORRESPONDENCE. 383 plauded, as was also Liszt's Prelude. In time we shall have the vyhole opera of " Tannhauser " performed here. It is to me the most pleasing of Wagner's compositions. Dickens' novel, " Little Dorrit," has, I see, been violently attacked in England. He has, however, defended himself bravely and well. When I stayed in his house I saw how generously and zealously he worked to raise a few thousand pounds for Douglas Jerrold's widow. He arra:nged recitations, dramatic performances, and similar entertain- ments, but received very poor thanks for his trouble. The son of the deceased Jerrold has, I hear, intimated that it was unnecessary to carry round the hat to collect money for his mother, as she was not left in straitened circumstances. This is written after every- thing had taken place and all the trouble been spent on it. How ungrateful ! I have received a letter to-day from Frau Serre. She is enchanted at the cordiality and graciousness with which your Royal Highness has received her husband. Major Serre and his wife are noble, benevolent 384 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S people. Their kindness is extended to a large circle of friends, and their hospitality is well known. I have not heard from Chancellor Beaulieu whether he goes to Italy or remains in Weimar this winter. His painful loss of a rare wife has grieved me deeply. I often think of her. H. C. Andersen. Andersen to the Grand-Duke of Weimar. Copenhagen, \\th December\%'^-j. Soon the festive Christmastide will be here. I am flying from town to Basnas to pass a few days in country comfort. If it were not for the sea and the great stretch between Copenhagen and Weimar, I should have come to you for the sacred festivity. Now I can only be there in thought. I can see you plainly in your happy circle : I hear the children's joy. May the proofs of goodness CORRESPONDENCE. 385 shown to me descend upon the children. Give them all my Christmas greeting. A new lithographic portrait of me will soon be ready. I shall take the liberty of sending it to you, so that during the winter you may have me to some extent under your eyes. I have finished two new fairy tales, — perhaps my best, — but they will not be printed until I have a collection ready. The Royal Danish Theatre has an entirely new caste this summer. The first repre- sentation was a play of Holberg's, following a prologue of mine. I had the vexation of seeing the actor. Professor Nielsen, who of late has suffered from a very bad memory, halt in the middle of my piece, lose his place, and skip over no less than thirteen strophes, What torture for an author to listen to ! It nearly made me ill. As I have mentioned Holberg here, our Northern Moliere, I should like to recom- mend to your Royal Highness a work which has just appeared in Stuttgart and Augsburg. It is "Ludwig Holberg: his Life and Works, with a Selection of his Plays," by Robert 2 B 386 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S Prutz. It is certainly very anti- Danish, which I much regret; but in the main it is excellent. One can see by it what import- ance Holberg formerly had in Germany, and his influence on the German stage. Even Hagdorn sings, — " Who laughs not with Holberg Can with Goldoni weep." In the Hamburg repertoire of 1742 to 1743, among the list of one hundred and ninety plays which had been represented in the course of years, are forty-four by Holberg. The Ackermanns (husband and wife), Eckhof and Schroder, and such artists as these supported and loved Holberg. It is curious that he has not been re-established in his former status like Moliere and Goldoni. It would redound to the credit of the German stage to reproduce a piece of his, and it would delight me if the Weimar theatre made the first step. In any case you will find this book by Robert Prutz interestingr. Read at least one of the comedies ; Prutz only gives five of CORRESPONDENCE. 387 them, but Holberg has written six times as many. " The Political Statemonger," " The Lying-in Room," "The Man who has no Time," " Rasmus Montanus," " Jean de France," belong to the best. In Copenhagen they are performed again and again every year, and have worked their way into the hearts of the people. Many phrases in these comedies have become household proverbs. The state of health here is now good. The cholera is Over, God be praised, but it still exists in Sweden. The weather is fine, and unusually mild and warm, and I already feel the longing of the birds of passage. May the coming year bring happiness and blessing. H. C. Andersen. Andersen to the Grand-Duke of Weimar. Copenhagen, 12th January 1858. On my return from the country, where I spent Christmas and the first days of 388 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S the New Year, I found your Royal High- ness' letter and several friendly greetings from Germany. Among these I must touch upon one. At Maxen, near Dresden, I met a young lady ^ last summer, the daughter of the deceased Superintendent of Police in Breslau. In a letter to her afterwards I described the festivals in Weimar, and among other things related to her what 1 saw at the unveiling of Goethe's and Schiller's statues- — namely, how a white butterfly fluttered around the poet-heroes, and, as if it had not quite made up its mind whether to settle on the one or the other of them, after circling round both, soared into the air. After this the young lady made me a drawing) surrounded by an arabesque, embracing many places dear to me, notably the castle in Weimar, the old wings and the hew building, as well as the Crystal Palace in London, Maxen, where the Serre family live, the tree I planted there, etc., etc. 1 Fraulein Clara Fredericka Heincke, the well-known portrait-painter of Berlin. CORRKSPONDENCE. 389 During the Christmas season I was very energetic, and have written no less than three new fairy tales ; one of these, " The Last Dream of an Old Oak-Tree," is pro- bably one of my best. Another, *' A Bachelor's Night-cap,." I hope will please ; the plot is laid in Eisenach and Copenhagen. I am now writing a piece for the National Theatre. Unfortunately none of my dra- matic works have yet been put upon the German stage, with the exception of " Little Karin ; " but this, as your Royal Highness knows, is only an opera. Fresh fairy tales are still demanded, and it is to be hoped that in the spring a new volume of them will appear, and also a German translation. The desire to travel — a longing for the South — is already beginning in me earlier than ever on account of the fine weather. It is like March now. At Christmastide I found violets in the wood. Through the publisher Lock, in Leipzig, I have taken the liberty of sending your Royal Highness a new portrait of myself. 390 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S It is considered very successful ; I hope to hear your opinion of it at your leisure. Christmas literature was very abundant this year in Denmark. Among the more important items may be mentioned a novel, " The Visionary." Of remarkable pieces on the stage the most conspicuous is, " The King's Favourite," by Hauch. The plot is laid in the, time of Christian IV. Jerichau the sculptor is working at a bust of Christian VIII. Fredericka Bremer is living in Rome this winter. I received a letter from her yesterday, in which she tells me she has just finished another long novel. Possibly I may go to Rome next winter. I must see once more the native land of the " Improvisatore." Between Rome and Denmark lies the home-like Weimar, and when in the spring everything blossoms and sings, a voice within me cries, — thither away ! — away ! With the most sincere wishes for your health and happiness, H. C. Andersen. CORRESPONDENCE. 391 Andersen to the Grand-Duke of Weimar. Copenhagen, 33th February 1858. A NEW work of mine is just about to appear, " New Fairy Tales and Stories." My thoughts have been concentrated on this book, or else my carrier pigeon would have flown over the snow and ice to dear Weimar long since. I should like to have had a German translation of it at once, but my German publisher wishes for a few more pages than the Danish edition has, and would therefore rather wait till September. I should like to know if one of the tales, " The Bachelor's Night-cap," pleases your Royal Highness, as I so much hope it will. I have mentioned this one before; the principal character is from Eisenach, and his sweetheart from Weimar, and their home sickness is for Thuringia. The holy Elisabeth, as well as Frau Holle, appear in it. It is written from my heart. 392 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S These new tales, which are already pretty- well known in manuscript in Copenhagen, have been exceedingly appreciated, and that is why the Danish publisher is in such a hurry to bring them out. And after the happier task of composing, I have lately been fully occupied with copy=> ing and correcting. I should rejoice exceedingly to learn that you had read these new stories with pleasure. Your Royal Highness in your last letter enquired if I could write a fairy comedy for the Weimar stage. I am thinking a great deal about it, and should like to, and should be glad if I could write it as if I were a native of Weimar. There will certainly be no want of effort on my part. One of my old pieces, " More than Pearls and Gold," has recently been produced on the Copenhagen stage. It still seems to maintain the interest of freshness. Also " Fliedermutterchen," which I have handed over to your Royal Highness in the hope CORRESPONDENCE. 393 that it may possibly be adapted to the Weimar stage, will be revived on the Danish boards. It is now winter here — a mild one it is true, but, nevertheless, the shipping communi- cation with Germany is interrupted, and the letters go by the longest way overland. The 2nd of April will soon be here, and then I shall be three years over fifty. It is dreadful to be so old and yet so young ! It would give great pleasure to me to receive a letter from you on that day. If God wills, I shall go this summer to Switzerland, where I did not go last year. Unfortunately I can only spend a month on this trip. I am meditating a larger work which I can bring out best in Den- mark. I hope that peace and joy may descend upon the realm. The present contentions are painful to me. Remember me graciously to the Grand- Duchess and your Royal Mother. H. C. Andersen, 394 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S Andersen to the Grand-Duke of Weimar. Copenhagen, 21st March 1859. Your Royal Highness is always so sincerely kind to me, since you honour and delight me with your letters. Thanks for your last. I hope that you have already received the copy of " Europe," which contains my fairy tale, " The Philosopher's Stone," and that it has pleased you. It is, how- ever, no longer my last, for since that I have written no less than six new fairy stories, which will appear in a small volume this week. If only my German friends could receive my muse as quickly. They form some of the best of my work. One of these stories, " The Wind tells us of Waldemar Daae and his Daughters," is, perhaps, regarding the construction, of special significance. I have tried, and hope I have succeeded, in giving the whole narrative a tone as if one heard the wind CORRESPONDENCE. 395 itself. Another story, "Anna Lisbeth," I consider the best from a psychological point of view. I have endeavoured to show in it how small a germ of good and of evil is hidden in the heart, and how it springs into life according as it has been touched either by " Einem Sonnenstrahl oder von einer bosen hand." ^ In January I also produced a great deal, but since the middle of February I have had inifluenza and a feverish cold, and am obliged to stay at home more than usual. Nevertheless I have frequently heard Singer's excellent music, which has given me very great pleasure. Your Royal Highness knows that Herr Singer, from Weimar, is here. He appeared for the first time in the " Musikverein " at a large concert, where there \Yere certainly more than 2000 in the audience, and won great applause. Later on he played at a smaller concert, and four times in the National Theatre. All the papers praised him, and he is himself much pleased with ^ By a sunbeam or by a wicked hand, 396 HANS, CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S his visit and his reception here. The day before yesterday I heard him at the Queen- Dowager's before a select company (the Hereditary Priiace Ferdinand and his Consort, Prince Christian, and the Land- graf's family). Here, too, he found great favour. I also met him in select, private circles. He is always welcomed and is in good health. I am writing so much about him because I do not know if they have already heard in Weimar how he is. I also like to write about him because it pleases me to see the name of Weimar, which has such a magic sound in artistic circles, also appreciated here. In a few days, on the 2nd of April, I shall be fifty-four years old — so old, for it is a great number of years, and yet how young — and on this day of all others I humbly recognise how many blessings have been given me. The good and happy events wander like a caravan through my thoughts, so many true, kind eyes greet me. I see here and there places where I have been offered a happy home, and among these CORRESPONDENCE. 397 Weimar is perhaps the dearest to me. You will also understand, dear sir, why you are particularly in my thoughts just on this day. May your Royal Highness preserve your kindness and sympathy for me, H. C. Andersen. Andersen to the Grand- Duke of Weimar. Basnas near Skjekskjor, 15th June 1859. I HAVE given my countrymen a whole bouquet of new fairy tales this spring, and have won much appreciation and pleasure. For several months, until quite lately, I have had a sharp attack of " La Grippe," but now summer is here with cuckoo and nightingale, and I fly out again in the ever young and beautiful world. The oldest of the Danish living authors, Ingemann, celebrated his birthday on the 28th of May. He lives in the beautiful 398 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S forest solitudes by the lake near Soroe. His novels have penetrated into the hearts of the people, even the peasants. In Inge- mann's novels they learn all about the olden time in Denmark. It was his 70th birthday. The children and young girls collected a sum of 3000 thalers, with which they bought him a large golden horn, artistically decorated with all the principal characters in his works. The peasants of the district where the old author's father once lived as a clergyman presented him with a beautiful porcelain vase, on which was engraved the name of Ingemann and that of his father. Many people left Copenhagen by rail for Soroe, where there was singing, speeches, and a torchlight procession. I was unable to be present at the fete, but it was also a day of rejoicing for me. On the same day, the King, who is very gracious and kind to me, had summoned me to his summer castle, Friedrichsburg. It lies six miles to the north-west of Copenhagen. There, on rising from dinner, the king gave me a beautiful CORRESPONDENCE. 399 ring, with his monogram in diamonds. We afterwards went out on the forest- girt lake in a large, boat, and I read aloud one of my newest fairy tales : " What the Wind tells us of Waldemar Daae and his Daughters." Later on, after we had taken a stroll in the garden, I read several of my new stories. The following day I went back to Copenhagen, and on the first of June to Sort5e, where the old author Ingemann and his wife live like Philemon and Baucis. The old people seemed quite regenerated by the fete. Thus, you see, my dear Grand- Duke, that my summer travels have begun under auspicious circumstances. Now I am at B'asnas on the Great Belt, and think of commencing on Monday an interesting and little-known journey. I wish to visit the North Sea and the entire west coast of Jutland as far as Skagen, aiid then to visit the barren desert land with its sand hills, there to find poetical treasures or the mood for composition. I shall go first to Silkeborg, the rich forest country 400 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S with its inland lakes, from there to the North Sea, and later by steamer through Limfjord to Aalborg. I cannot, however, wander about in the great solitude without giving you some idea of where I shall be rambling this summer. Through the papers I always know pretty well where you are staying, whether travelling, or at Weimar. How often I live over again in memory the first hours when I saw your Royal Highness and learnt to know you. It was your Royal Highness' birthday when I saw you for the first time in the Grand-ducal Theatre in Weimar greeted by the people. It was then that I spoke to you for the first time in Ettersburg. The town was en fete that evening With music mat de cocagne for the peasants. Many beautiful reminiscences of graciousness and kindness pass through my thoughts again and again, and then my heart always flies to . dear Weimar. H. C. Andersen. CORRESPONDENCE. 401 Andersen to the Grand- £)uke of Weimar, Copenhagen, i6th October 1859. You have been so often and so vividly in nly thoughts during this summer, in which I have visited some of the most isolated and peculiar districts of my father- land. The last letter from your Royal Highness reached me at the old estate, Norfe-Wosborg, on the. dunes of the North Sea, while I was under the spell of the fata morgana appearances of the desert land. That you should have re- membered me in your heavy trial, and in the midst of your grief over mother and child, has touched me deeply. May the painful loss appear to you even now in a more softened light ! I am bringing a rich harvest of poetical material from these travels. Wherever I went I was agreeably surprised to find rnyself treated with loving attention. They received me as a longed-for friend with 8 c 402 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S cordiality and f^tes, so that I felt quite humble and insignihcant. The scenery of Jutland has been a great revelation to me. The storms of the North Sea whip up the great sand-dunes, the whirling sand cuts the face, the sea dashes and rolls like a seething cataract against the coast, and loosens the clay of the precipices. But the most striking sight of all was " Skagen," — this desert, with a small town but no streets, — for the houses lie miles apart from each other, according as the whirling sandhills permit : pieces of " wrack " bound with rope in- dicate where the street ought to be. The little town stretches for half a mile along the Cattegat, and from thence there is just as long a road over the plains to old Skagen, where the gates and doors are decorated with the figure-heads of ships. It looks as if " Neptune," " Hope," and other exalted deities lived here ; for their figures, taken from stranded ships, are to be seen at every entrance. The most remarkable feature, however, is the large CORRESPONDENCE. 403 Gothic church buried in the sand. First the sand covered the churchyard, then the walls ; but the services were still con- tinued, until one Sunday a sand-bank settled in front of the door. Then the clergyman turned to his congregation : "God," said he, "has now closed this house ; we must build Him a new one elsewhere ; " and another now stands in a new portion of the town. Just as in the fairy-tale of the enchanted forest the castle is surrounded by an impenetrable thicket, so is the church here over-grown with sand-plants, thorns, and wild roses, which spread like a stockade over the mighty plains. Like a buried Pompeii, the church now lies with its grave- stones and monuments till a westerly storm comes and sets the sands in motion ; and this will happen, for the dunes are always moving eastwards and new ones rising up. It is like coming into the birds' kingdom here, especially outside the town. For a quarter of a mile from the light-house a tongue of land, strewn with rolling stones. 404 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S Stretches out into the sea, and ends in a point just wide enough for a man to stand on and let the North Sea play over his left boot and the Cattegat over his right. It is very plainly seen how the two seas meet here ; but the North Sea always holds the mastery. The journey is fatiguing, but very in- teresting. From Frederickshavn to Skagen is a five-mile drive at low water, — half across the sands, half on land. The waves, even in fine weather, often dash upon th« carriage, and great care is required to avoid the quicksands where carriages and horses might sink. On the plains one frequently finds turf, which shows that forests must have stood here formerly. I have already written a description of this interesting journey. It still touches me when I think of the affectionate manner ih which my country people received me. In Hjorring, the largest northern town, they serenaded me. In Aalborg also the Artisans' Choral Society gave me a fare- well greeting. Flowers and cheers accom- CORRESPONDENCE. 40S panied me as if I were a Prince : I was humbled by it and yet inexpressibly happy. I see what an effect my writings have had upon the people. To you, my noble Prince, who have so much heart and so much sympathy for me, I can relate everything in the way I do. You will not misunder- stand me. I long for you and Weimar ! God keep and rejoice your Royal Highness. H. C. Andersen. King Maximilian II. of Bavaria to Andersen. BORDER-Riss, %th November 1859. While wandering lately on a glorious evening by the Wallersee, and thinking of your beautiful fairy tales and poems, I re- solved to put aside the obstacles which had hitherto been raised on account of your not being a German by birth, and to give my- 406 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S self the real pleasure of conferring upon you my Maximilian-Order, since your writings have a very German ring about them, and your tales are so popular in Germany. I made a note of my resolve on my tablets by moonlight. Will you regard the granting of this Order as a sign of my great esteem for you, and of the pleasure with which I recall our meeting. — I am, with friendly sentiments, your well-wisher, Max. Andersen to King Max. II. of Bavaria. Copenhagen, \tth November 1859. Your Majesty has given me a joyful sur- prise and a happy day by your sincere and gracious letter. To be remembered in this way by a noble and intellectual King touches me deeply, uplifts me, and fills my heart with thanks to your Majesty, I shall pre- serve the royal letter among my most cherished memories. It shall take a place CORRESPONDENCE. 407 with the Hlac flower which your Majesty- picked and gave me on little Wallersee Island, where I had the happiness for the first time of seeing King Max, and speaking to him. How often do I not recall those happy days at Hohenschwangan ! The last few years have brought me much happiness — great, almost too great, recogni- tion in my fatherland ; and my works have been kindly judged in foreign countries, and most cordially received. God has allotted to me unspeakable happiness, and I acknovjr- ledge it with deep gratitude. In little Denmark, books are naturally not issued in large editions, but during, last year four to ■five thousand copies of my " Fairy Tales and Stories" were published. My last work belongs to this collection : " A Story of the Sand-Plains." The whole description is the result of a visit during last summer to the weirdest part of my fatherland : West Jutland to Skagen. Nature is there so strange. From the magnificent beech-forests of the eastern coast, which are still the haunts of the eagle and the black-stork, one 408 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S reaches the far-stretching heaths dotted with countless barrows of the Huns. The fata morgana of the desert displays herfe her fairy- pictures ; the west coast presents green meadows and mighty sand-dunes, which rise in jagged points like a chain of Alps, a bulwark against the rolling sea. Here I passed the summer, and visited the most northern point of the land of Skagen, where the North Sea and the Cattegat break against each other, and where, as in the fairy tale of the enchanted forest, the church, covered with sand and overgrown with thorns and wild roses, presents a peculiar spectacle, only the spire projecting above the sand. The place possesses no Streets or alleys, the houses are scattered among the sand-billows, and ropes, which are stretched between bunches of wrack, show the way, Here, in this scenery, I have laid the plot of my latest work, which will .appea.r in my mother-tongue at Christrnas, and will, I hope, very soon be translated into German. Hpw happy I should be if it were granted me to read this bpqk aloud to your IVIajesty. My CORRESPONDENCE. 4O9 dearest wish is that God will let me live to visit Bavaria again in order to express to your Majesty my heartfelt gratitude to the noble Royal pair who have accorded so much graciousness to me, — a foreigner. The high order of honour which your Majesty has conferred upon me will awaken in my heart the deepest gratitude. On the 2 1 St of November, with my prayers to God will be mingled my sincere thanks to you, noble, exalte^ King, God bless your Majesty. H. C. Andersen. Andersen to the Grand- Duke of Weimar. BASNAS, near SKJEI.SKJOR, Denmark, ■^ist December 1859. Your Royal Highness, --A new year is beginning, but I must, while the old is still here, express my gratitude and regard for you. God has severely tried you, dear sir, in the year that has passed away ; but yet 4IO HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S you have gained two noble souls, — two praying- for you, loving you, before the Throne of God. Strength and consolation will be given to you. May the New Year bring to you, your Royal Consort, and your children, happiness, and blessing. The past year has brought to me much pleasure and appreciation. Never have I been so much valued in my own country as now. I have written ' ' A Story of the Sand- Plains." This, with four shorter tales, has been issued in an edition , of 5000 copies, and is nearly sold out. The critics place the tale among the best and most poetical that I have written, and I think it will soon be translated into German. My summer travels-through Jutland to Skagen provided material and scenery for this new composi- tion. From abroad I have also reaped fame and gratification. From Germany, the other day, came great recognition : the noble King Max of Bavaria honoured me with a letter written by his own hand, and conferred upon me the Maximilian-Order for Art and Science. CORRESPONDENCE. 41 1 A sad and painful event for us Danes was the burning of the Friedrichborg Palace. Last week, on December 17th,. this wonder- ful old Gothic building was destroyed by fire in a few hours. The building, church, and Gothic hall are ruins. I was there this spring. The King had graciously invited me. I sailed with the King in a large boat, and read some of the newest fairy tales to His Majesty. It was a lovely evening. The castle stood out so stately and magnifi- cent in the sun's rays, with its towers and minarets reflected in the lake. Never shall I see it again ! At present I am in the country on the Baltic ; but at the New Year I am going' back to Copenhagen. H. C. Andersen. Andersen to the Grand-Duke of Weimar. Copenhagen, ird May i860. I HAD hoped to have been able to send your Royal Highness my last work during 412 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S the first days of April. It contains a large collection of fairy tales, stories, and travel- sketches, which have had the greatest suc- cess in Denmark, and passed through several editions before the German one could be printed. April is now over, and as I cannot receive the book before the end of June, I can no longer delay writing, for I must relate to your Royal Highness how I live and work, in order to keep myself in your kind remembrance, I have been very industrious all through the winter, and my energies have also been engaged in an entirely new direction. Several university professors and other able men have been giving instructive weekly discourses to assemblies of the working- class. I was asked to represent the art of poetry and literature, and particularly to recite some fairy tales. This I have done, and have derived much pleasure from the experiment. Artisans, with their wives and children, filled the large hall, and it was of psychological interest to note the impression which the lectures made. CORRESPONDENCE. 4^3 I have several times had the hdnour of conversing with the Princess Anila of Hesse at the hereditary Prince Ferdinand's arid the Prince of Denmark's/ and we always talked of you, dear Grand-Duke. On one such occasion the Prussian Chamberlain very prettily improvised on a subject given by me : " Dear Weimar." Th« brothers Miiller from Meiningen are here in con- sequence of an engagement with the Society of Music. They are extremely popular, and appear to be pleased with their stay in Copenhagen. They also gave a concert at Aarhuus, where a piece from " Lohengrin " was played and received with favour. In the month of June I hope to be in Germany. If I knew that your Royal Highness would be at Eisenach, I would arrange my route that way. I intend to spend the summer in Switzerland, and the winter, if God gives peace and tranquillity, at Rome. I shall not be at home again until the summer of 1861. I should so ^ Priiice Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Gliicksburg, thQ present King Christian IX- 414 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S much like to pass another winter in beauti- ful Italy. It will probably be the last time. On the 2nd of April I reached my fifty- fourth year. For Schiller's Album I have written a new legend, " The Old Church-Bell," and sent it to Major Serre. At Schiller's birth his mother heard the sound of the old church-bell at Marbach. At his death the head and bust of Thorwaldsen's statue of Schiller at Stuttgart were made of this bell. Schiller's life rings here in " The Song of the Bell," and by means of Thorwaldsen I bring into it an element of my own father- land. I hope this little tale will please you. I beg you to give my most respectful greeting to your Royal Consort. H. C. Andersen. Andersen to the Grand-Duke of Weimar. Brunnen, -z^thjuly i860. At the end of May I left Copenhagen for the Duchies, where I lingered some time, CORRESPONDENCE. 4^5 and went .from there to Eisenach. The idea of seeing, your Royal Highness again made my heart beat with the joy of antici- pation. I would have gone to Weimar if you had been there, but I heard in Eisenach that your Royal Highness had started for Switzerland the previous day. I hoped that I should certainly ■ meet you there, but when I reached Munich I read in the newspapers, "The Grand-Duke of Saxe- Weimar is in Baden-Baden," and shortly aftef the news reached me that you had already returned to Weimar. , I was quite sad about it. When and where shall I now have the pleasure, the real happiness of seeing you, my dear, noble sir, again ? It is my inten- tion in the late autumn to proceed to Rome for the winter ; but as things now stand I take no pleasure in it. I only care to be where peace and quiet dwell. I have been already, as I have said, two months away from home, and have spent pleasant, happy days. I know your Royal Highness' sympathy for me, and I there- fore relate to you, without ceremony, every- 4l6 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S thing that I must tell those of whom I am very fond. In the Duchies I was received with ex- tra.ofdinary kindness. I spent a whole week at Rendsburg, and as I was begged most pressiiigly and affectionately to give read- ings there once, from, some of my fairy tales for the Danish soldiers, as I did in the winter, at Copenhagen for the artisans, I promised to do so. The Town Hall was decdrated with flowers and flags. Officers, and their wives, non-commissioned officers, soldiers, and alsb German-speaking people, who understood Danish, made up an audience of nearly 1500. I was received with cheers and flowers, and felt very pleased. At night German was sung under my windows — a greeting from the Germans. In the morning the military band played for me. And at my departure the station was dressed with Danish flags. There was sing- ing, and they gave me three cheers. I could not help weeping. The world has granted me far too much sympathy and H:indness. Strongly affected by these hearty CORRESPONDENCE. 417 / demonstrations, I flew to Eisenach. If you had only been .there, my noble Prince, how pleased I should have been. In Munich I spent pleasant days with Kaulbach. He has done a wonderful picture for my legend, " The Angel," and says he thinks of illustrating some of the others. The King of Bavaria was not in Munich, but I was received very graciously by the Queen. Her Majesty presented me with photographs of herself, the King, and the two Princes. The Passion- Play at Oberammergau, which is repeated there every ten years, made a great impression on me. It surpassed all my expectations. I had always feared that the representation of Christ on the stage must have something sacrilegious about it, but, as it was given here, it was elevating and noble. There was something., about the whole resembling the open-air Indian plays ; " Sacuntala," for example. The choruses recall the Greek tragedies. The music and singing ' are carried out with taste and pre- cision. The representation lasted from eight 2 1) 4l8 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S o'clock in the morning till five in the after- noon, and no one went away, so refined and affecting was the whole performance. Do go there. It will repay you the trouble. Representations will be given on the 6th, 1 2 th, 19th, and 26th of August, as well as on the 9th and i6th of September. It is better to put up at the Pastor's. Do go to see it. I have now been twelve days in Brunnen, on the Vierwaldstadtersee, where I am boarding at Colonel Aufdermauer's. There are several strangers here, also Count liarrach, and Von Slicht from Weimar, who both earnestly desire to be remembered to your Royal Highness. Next week I am going to Locle, in the Jura Mountains, where I remain till the 14th August. I should be happy to receive a letter there — poste restante,— or a week later at Geneva. My new book, " From Heart and World," containing legends, stories, and travels, I have long since sent your Royal Highness, through my publisher, but addressed to Chamberlain Beaulieu, who, CORRESPONDENCE. 419 I hear, is now travelling. Read " Anne Elizabeth," '' The Story from the Sand- dunes," and " Pen and Inkstand." I dare hope that these will please your Royal Highness. H. C. Andersen. Andersen to Edward Collin. OucHY, BY Lausanne, 15th August i86o. Dear Friend, — The day before yester- day I left Locle, and spent the night at In- verdun. I took the coach to see the lovely valley of Travers, where Rousseau lived. I arrived yesterday at , Ouchy, which is a kind of suburb to Lausanne, and is situated half an hour's walk from the lake. In the hotel here (The Anchor) Byron lived and wrote his " Prisoner of Chillon." His little room is close to mine. The Prince of Joinville was here with his wife and children last week.' I have the room in which the Princess slept It is very 420 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S small ; but the view over the lake to the mountains of Savoy is fine. I had a sad dream last night which has affected me in a remarkable degree, and is my reason for writing you to-day. It seemed to me that I was on a visit to Copenhs^gen and went to your father's house. Outside stood the singers Faaborg and Chr. Han- sen ; they said : " But you have been here in town since Saturday ! " I thought it re- markable that I had not sooner been to see your father. I now saw him in the hall in his blue coat, the one he wore when he was ill. I told him I had corrie to see him. He burst into tears, embraced me, and called out my name so loudly that I woke. I was very hot, yet a cold shiver went through my limbs, possibly the result of my thoughts. " My God ! what has happened at home? Have I lost him.'' Is he dead.''" thought I. I slept no more for some time ; but I hope and believe the whole dream means nothing. But I felt 1 must tell you about it Shall I hear from you before long ? CORRESPONDENCE. 421 - I thank you and your wife for your letter received. It did me good, for I am here in Ouchy quite alone, and do not know a soul. Yesterday when I arrived there was at the dinner-table a German family, Bar- nemann ; they had only landed to have dinner. We sat together, and he asked me from which country I came. I said : " Denmark ! " " Consequently an enemy ! " he exclaimed. " Yes, and a well known enemy," I replied, and told him my name. This created a spirit of very good feeling between us. They drank my health. The ladies were delighted, and in the end they all spoke enthusiastically of Copenhagen. Such was my reception here at Ouchy. Believe me it is an unspeakable blessing thus to have friends, or, at least, to see faces beaming with amiability when one mentions one's name. I feel softened and moved at the thought, In France they begin to know me. The great work, " Dictionnaire des contemporains," published in Paris, had an article about me. 422 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S " Avec iin esprit qui rappelle quelquefois celui de Vol- taire par I'ironie fine et aiguisde, M. Andersen i. tout le sentiment et la reverie du peuple du Nord. Mais il a su y mfeler une richesse d'imagination vraiment orientale qui contribue a faire de lui un poete des plus originaux du XIX™. sifecle." I Stayed a fortnight in Locle. Jules Jiir- gensen seemed very pleased to see me. I felt welcome. The sons I liked very much. The youngest has something in him of the northern calmness ; the eldest is entirely French and, full of life. He es- pecially took to me. Jurgensen has a con- siderable business. He has, made many improvements in watches. He sends quan- tities of watches to America and Paris, and on all for America he puts the word " Copen- hagen." In his way he does our country great honour, and it is an injustice that at home they have not conferred upon him the Order of Dannebrogs. His brother is a knight as his father was ; and this man, who is an honour to the name " Danish," ought, I think, to be rewarded. I know it would please him. Can you do anything in the matter ? Mention him in the proper CORRESPONDENCE. 423 place to one of the ministers who has charge of that sort of thing. Let me know something about it when you write again. I hope to hear your father is well and happy. Press his hand kindly for me, and remember me to Theodor. The rheu- matism in my finger still continues, but the toothache I suffered from in Locle is gone. When I left, the day before yesterday, the weather was fine, but only four degrees of heat. What do you think of that ? The Neufchatel paper has mentioned my stay here : " Depuis quelque temps notre pays possfede Tecrivain rcriommd, le pofete illustre, auquel plus qu'a tout autre on peut decerner le titre de cosmopolite. Pour tout ce qui a trait aux choses de I'esprit, ce titre est heureusement applicable et bien que M. Andersen derive dans une iangue peu repandue, il est le pofete de tout le monde," etc., etc. Enjoyable it might be to travel along with a countryman you could talk to, but I have a more serious purpose in travel- ling than mere pleasure. I have a greater e;nd in view ; whiqh is to do all in my 424 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S power to make my name ring in France, if not so much as in England, at least that my writings may find a greater sale than they have now. Only " The Improvisa- tore," and the Fairy Tales and Picture Book are translated — the latter very badly — but I think the tales will soon appear in better form. I shall not make money, but renown is the great point. It surprises me that Bille has not mentioned in " Dag- bladet" the great success, of my last stories in England. In a day or two I shall go to Montreux. It is close to the lake, not far from Chil- lon. Perhaps I may go to Bex, and to the valley of Chamounix. But the starting point is Lausanne. I wish I had you all here, if only for an hour. The lake is broad and green, the mountains are capped with snow, the sun shines, and in the gardens , hang ripe figs and" large bunches of grapes. A couple of cypresses are growing in the open, and pomegranates are in blossom. It has just struck me that I can enrich CORRESPONDENCE, 425 your wife's cookery book with a new recipe for making salad, which I learnt at Locle. I like it, but perhaps she may not. The addition is a garlic. The salad is made as usual, then you take a crust of French bread and rub into it a whole gar- lic. This bread you put into the salad, while being prepared, and thus obtain a piquant flavour of garlic. Try it and then you can thank me. Here in Ouchy, for the first time dur- ing my travels, I have felt lonely. Possibly it is because I have just left a family circle, and am now in a rather lonely place where only French is spoken, and I speak to no one except the servants. At the dinner-table are only Englishmen, who are completely mute. I have made some at- , tagks, but am never able to start a conver- sation, not even among themselves. It is as if they had made a vow to be silent. Now good-bye, my dear faithful friend. — Your devoted, H, C. Andersen, 426 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S Andersen to Philarete-Charles in Paris. Copenhagen,. October 1867. Dear, Much Respected Herr Philarete, — I spent a splendid fortnight in Paris on my last visit, and among the happiest memo- ries are the day and evening in your little country paradise, which you, with your brilliant humour, and your cousin made so enjoyable and homelike. Unfortunately, I must deplore not having seen you more often, for I had a very few days left. Last Monday I reached Copenhagen, and I now hasten to recall myself to the kind remembrance of yourself and your Frau Cousine. In your sympathy for me as an author you made a proposition, which, if it could be realised, would give me unbounded happi- ness ; namely, that a collection of my many tales, which have not yet been translated, should be published in the French language, CORRESPONDENCE. 427 . By the interest which you and your cousin have shown for me, I shall live to see myself introduced in France, and if my writings take, I shall win recognition as I have done in England and Germany, If I please the French, then my dearest dreams will be fulfilled — of becoming an European author. I herewith send you the most complete edition of the tales in a good German trans- lation, and have marked with a cross all those which I think have not yet been trans- lated into French, and with two crosses the short ones, which I consider of the most importance. I will next send you the only German edition of "In Sweden," as well as "The Fairy Tale of my Life." The latest com- plete edition has only appeared in Danish, and that, unfortunately, you would not be able to read. The novel, " Only a Fiddler," I will send to you at Paris on the next opportunity. The parcel of books I have entrusted to a young friend. Favour me with a few words and accept my warm, hearty thanks for your good in- 42§ HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S tentions, and for all that you are doing for the Danish author, — Your grateful, H. C. Andersen.. Andersen to ten Kate"^ of Amsterdam. Copenhagen, 22nd January 1869. Dear Herr ten Kate, — Excellent friend, I am writing this in Danish. You thoroughly understand my mother-tongue, in which I can express myself much better than in German. Accept my sincere thanks for the valued gift you have made me in sending your yersified edition of my fairy tales. I very much admire the rich and splendid binding of the book. My portrait, ^ Kate (Jan Jacob Lobewijk ten), Dutch poet, born 23rd December 1819, at the Hague. In 1845 he became a clergyman of the Reformed Church, and has lived since i860 in Amsterdam. He has published several poems, and has made himself a name as a translator from most European languages. Apiong his longer poems, which are chiefly of a religious nature, are " De Shepping " (" The Creation ") and " De Planeten." Several of his works have been translated. CORRESPONDENCE. 4^9 too, I think, very good, and am astonished that, in your remarkable rendering of my prose stories, you have been able to follow the original so closely, almost word for word in metrical numbers. My most heartfelt thanks for the perseverance and affection with which you have worked for me. I received the book on Monday evening, and on every Monday morning the King holds a public levk. Before the following Monday, therefore, I should have had no opportunity of seeing His Majesty. I, how- ever, went on Friday to the fcastle, when the King most graciously received me im- mediately. I informed him Of your import- ance and position, and then handed His Majesty the copy which you had sent me for that purpose. The King accepted the book kindly and cordially as ever, read your letter aloud to me, and said that I was first to give you' his thanks, and to add that it pleased him very much to see how well you write Danish. I myself thank you for the commission which you gave me to pre- sent your beautiful work to His Majesty. 430 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S In one of our newspapers, Dagens Nyneder, the book has' already been noticed. Most people in Denmark are acquainted with your name, and the interest you take in my tales. Give my most cordial greetings to your family. I will soon take the liberty of sending you such of my little poems as you do not yet possess. . "The Dryads" is already trans- lated, and has appeared in English and German. Of the French edition I have heard nothing as yet. — Your gratefully de- voted friend and admirer, H. C. Andersen. Andersen to the Grand- Duke of Weimar. Bregentved, near Kjoge, Haslov Station, Denmark. Your Royal Highness will graciously and with friendly interest accept my most sin- CORRESPONDENCE. 43 1 cere thanks for the pleasing letter I received from Holland, which was a new proof of your goodness of heart and sympathy. The letter reached me during my stay at beauti- ful Holsteinborg, where I once wrote a fairy tale called " Weno and Gleno," on the parish which is connected here with the island Gleno in the Baltic, in front of the wood-girt castle. Now I am the guest of Count Moltke at Bregentved, some miles distant from Hol- steinborg, in the midst of a beautiful and extensive forest, so luxuriant that there is scarcely another to equal - it in Denmark. The garden here, with its great verdant lawns, immense avenues of lime trees, and cheerful lakes, where swans and shimmering white lotus flowers float up on the water, reminds me of the English parks. Bregentved is without doubt one of the largest and finest of our seigniorial estates. I have been acquainted with the present family from my earliest days, and now see growing up in the comfortable, happy home an entirely new race of lively and beautiful children. 432 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S A residence in the country was, and is to me still, the best of medicines. I can now take long walks in the garden, and have even tried to read aloud some of my tales (an attempt which I have not been able to make for over a year), and did not feel it beyond my strength. If my recovery con- tinues to make the same progress, I may once more dare to think, in a not too distant future, of seeing Weimar, your Royal High- ness, the Grand- Duchess, and the whole Grand- Ducal juvenile circle again. What a memorable day it would be for me ! God bless the house of W^eimar, and grant that I may there perpetually be held in kind and gracious remembrance. H. C. Andersen. Mary Livingstone to Andersen. Ulva Cottage, Hamilton, Scotland, ist January 1869. Dear Hans Andersen, — -1 do like your fairy tales so much, that I would like to go CORRESPONDENCE. 433 and see you, but I cannot do that, so I thought I would write to you. When papa comes home from Africa, I will ask him to take me to see you. My favourite stories in one book are: "The Goloshes of For- tune," "The Snow Queen," and some others. My papa's narrie is Dr. Livingstone. I am sending my card and papa's autograph. I will say good-bye to you and a happy New Year. — I am your affectionate little friend, Anna Mary Livingstone. P.S. — Please write to me soon. My ad- dress is on the iirst page, and please send me your card. Mary Livingstone to Andersen, Ulva Cottage, Hamilton, Scotland, 7.0th October 1869. My Dear Hans C. Andersen, — It is a very long, time since I have written ■ to you, 2 E 434 HANS' 'CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S but I am writing to you now, and that is so much. Is it not ? Y was so dehghted to get your letter ; and when I got your card I looked at it, and thought that I had got acquainted with a gentleman whom I would like very much. I thank you very much for the " Translation," for without it I could not understand your letter, and then I would not have been able to answer any of the qu'es- tions you asked me. We got news twice about papa, but none of them were true. But last Friday our station-master, who knows us, came up with a paper that had news, the good news, and oh ! we were so delighted I saw the story of " Vaenoe and Glanoe." I thought it very pretty, and I hope you will write some more. The first that I ever read was " Maja," or " Little Thumb." Thomas and Oswell, my brothers, and Agnes, my sister, are quite well. Only my mamma is dead, and I have two aunts, Janet and Agnes Livingstone, with whom my home is. It is a very nice home. T once had a Grandmamma Livingstone, but she is dead now. Please could you tell me CORRESPONDENCE. 435 if you know the Swedish language. Tell me in your next letter if you do. With my best love to all at your home, I remain your most affectionate little friend, Anna Mary Livingstone. Andersen to Mary Livingstone. BasnSs, near Skjelskoh, Denmark, May 1871. My Dear Little Friend, — Thanks for the charming letter which you sent me a short time ago, and thanks for all that you have told me about the pantomime which you saw in the Theatre Royal. That must have been an enjoyable evening. I know the story of Sindbad quite well. It is in " The Arabian Nights." You must read the book. 1 will also send at the first oppor- tunity the continuation of the tales and stories which your sister Agnes brought from rhe. In my new book there are many, 436 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN S many tales which you will scarcely know. I was staying at a country house outside Copenhagen when your sister and some friends delighted me with their visit and brought me greetings from little Mary Livingstone. How kind and thoughtful of her. Remember me to her and to the noble old lady who accompanied her. Greet- ings to each of her companions whom I then saw. Here in Denmark we often speak of your dear papa and his travels in Africa. Recently I read in a newspaper that he had left there and was on his way back to Europe. Hurrah ! That would be indeed splendid. The dear God never forsakes good people who live in Him, and produce good works. What a joy for the family, what a festival for the whole coun- try it will be, when the dear, energetic father whom we all value and honour returns to England ! Then when he has well kissed his little Mary, conversed with her, and told her everything, remember me to him, and greet him kindly for me, him over whom God has stretched His protecting CORRESPONDENCE. 437 hand to the dehght and instruction of us all. Greet the aunt also, and every mem- ber of the family who is well-disposed to- wards little Mary's friend, Hans Christian Andersen. Now I am otit in the country, close by the sea coast, and am staying at an ancient castle with a high tower. The garden runs down to the sea-shore, and stretches away to the beech Woods, which are now splen- didly fresh and green. The whole ground of the. forest is like a carpet strewn with violets and anemones. The wood doves are coo- ing, and the cuckoo's note is heard. Here I shall certainly write a new story, which my little friend will afterwards be able to read. After Whitsuntide I shall return to the capital and live for a while at my friend, Melchior's, in the beautiful villa where your sister Agnes was so kind as to visit me. When papa comes then I shall probably have a letter from his dear little Mary ? Now may you be well and merry. You will not forget the friend in Den- mark, — Hans ChristiXn Andersen, 438 HANS C. ANDEKSEN'S CORRESPONDENCE. Mary Lwingsione to Andersen. Ulva Cottage, YiiM\\.TOii, 2yd November 1872. My Dearest H. Andersen, — I meant to have written to you long ago and sent you a greenstone for that you lost; but I never could get time. First my brother Thomas took very ill with pleurisy, eleven weeks from to-day, and this is the first day he has been able to be downstairs. Then we had Mr. Stanley. He came to stay a day or two with the Provost of Hamilton, Mr. Dykes, and to lecture here. He was pre- sented with the freedom of the Burgh of Hamilton. My sister Agnes and one of my aunts and I were introduced to him on the platform, amid loud . cheers. He came in the afternoon to our house, and then went to the banquet in the town hall. In the evening he delivered a very interesting lecture. Next day we took him to see the palace, and then he went away. I was very sorry when he went. I Hke him so much. H. M. STANLEY.' HANS C. ANDERSEN'S CORRESPONDENCE. 44 1 When I was in lona, a Highland relation of ours gave me a whole, sovereign. Agnes, and Thomas, and Oswell, and I bought a beautiful gold locket for Mr. Stanley, and had his initials put on it, and inside is papa on one side, and on the other his four chil- dren, in recognition of his finding papa. So I gave ten shillings of the sovereign for this locket ; and, as I have heard that there have been dreadful floods in Den- mark, I willingly give the other ten shil- lings for the relief of the people. You will please see that it is given all right. I am studying German just now and find it very interesting. I should so like to get a letter from you when you have time. I shall now close. So I am, dear Hans Andersen, your ever affec- tionate young friend, Anna Mary Livingstone. P.S.— I love you so much, dear, dear Hans Andersen. 442 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S Andersen to Mary Livingstone. Copenhagen, December \?>tz. My Dear Little Friend, — During more than seven weeks I have been ill and am not quite well. The greatest sympathy and attention have Seen shown me by our Royal House as well as by the poorest. Our dear good-hearted Crown Prince, the brother of the amiable Princess of Wales, has visited me. Sym- pathy I have had in the fullest measure, but convalescence progresses but slowly. Reading wearies me, and writing I cannot and dare not undertalce. 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