Here we are upon the spot!
MRS. HALM.
It’s Lind you seek, then?
MISS JAY.
That’s unfortunate.
He’s just engaged—
AN AUNT.
And so, you may be sure,
He cannot think of going on a tour.
THE STUDENTS.
Engaged!
ALL THE STUDENTS.
Congratulations!
LIND [_to his comrades_].
Thanks, my friends!
THE STUDENT [_to his comrades_].
There goes our whole fish-kettle in the fire!
Our tenor lost! No possible amends!
FALK
[_Coming from the right, in summer suit, with
student’s cap, knapsack and stick._
_I_’ll sing the tenor in young Norway’s choir!
THE STUDENTS.
You, Falk! hurrah!
FALK.
Forth to the mountains, come!
As the bee hurries from her winter home!
A twofold music in my breast I bear,
A cither with diversely sounding strings,
One for life’s joy, a treble loud and clear,
And one deep note that quivers as it sings.
[_To individuals among the_ STUDENTS.
You have the palette?—You the note-book? Good,
Swarm then, my bees, into the leafy wood,
Till at night-fall with pollen-laden thigh,
Home to our mighty mother-queen we fly!
[_Turning to the company, while the_ STUDENTS
_depart and the Chorus of the First Act is
faintly heard outside._
Forgive me my offences great and small,
I resent nothing;—
[_Softly._
but remember all.
STRAWMAN [_beaming with happiness_].
Now fortune’s garden once again is green!
My wife has hopes,—a sweet presentiment—
[_Draws him whispering apart._
She lately whispered of a glad event—
[_Inaudible words intervene._
If all goes well ... at Michaelmas ... thirteen!
STIVER
[_With_ MISS JAY _on his arm, turning to_ FALK,
_smiles triumphantly, and says, pointing to_
STRAWMAN:
I’m going to start a household, flush of pelf!
MISS JAY [_with an ironical courtesy_].
I shall put on my wedding-ring next Yule.
ANNA [_similarly, as she takes_ LIND’S _arm_].
My Lind will stay, the Church can mind itself—
LIND [_hiding his embarrassment_].
And seek an opening in a ladies’ school.
MRS. HALM.
I cultivate my Anna’s capabilities—
GULDSTAD [_gravely_].
An unromantic poem I mean to make
Of one who only lives for duty’s sake.
FALK [_with a smile to the whole company_].
I go to scale the Future’s possibilities!
Farewell! [_Softly to_ SVANHILD.
God bless thee, bride of my life’s dawn,
Where’er I be, to nobler deed thou’lt wake me.
[_Waves his hat and follows the_ STUDENTS.
SVANHILD.
[_Looks after him a moment, then says, softly but
firmly:_
Now over is my life, by lea and lawn,
The leaves are falling;—now the world may take me.
[_At this moment the piano strikes up a dance, and
champagne corks explode in the background. The
gentlemen hurry to and fro with their ladies on
their arms._ GULDSTAD _approaches_ SVANHILD _and
bows: she starts momentarily, then collects
herself and gives him her hand._ MRS. HALM _and
her family, who have watched the scene in
suspense, throng about them with expressions of
rapture, which are overpowered by the music and
the merriment of the dancers in the garden._
[_But from the country the following chorus rings
loud and defiant through the dance music:_
CHORUS OF FALK AND THE STUDENTS.
And what if I shattered my roaming bark, It was
passing sweet to be roaming!
MOST OF THE COMPANY.
Hurrah!
[_Dance and merriment; the curtain falls._
NOTES
P. 18. “_William Russel._” An original historic tragedy, founded
upon the career of the ill-fated Lord William Russell, by Andreas
Munch, cousin of the historian P. A. Munch. It was produced at
Christiania in 1857, the year of Ibsen’s return from Bergen, and
reviewed by him in the _Illustreret Nyhedsblad_ for that year, Nos.
51 and 52. Professor Johan Storm of Christiania, to whose kindness I
owe these particulars, adds that “it is rather a fine play and
created a certain sensation in its time; but Munch is forgotten.”
P. 20. _A grey old stager._ Ibsen’s friend P. Botten-Hansen, author
of the play _Hyldrebryllupet_.
P. 59. _A Svanhild like the old._ In the tale of the Völsungs
Svanhild was the daughter of Sigurd and Gudrun,—the Siegfried and
Kriemhild of the _Nibelungenlied_. The fierce king Jormunrek,
hearing of her matchless beauty, sends his son Randwer to woo her in
his name. Randwer is, however, induced to woo her in his own, and
the girl approves. Jormunrek thereupon causes Randwer to be arrested
and hanged, and meeting with Svanhild, as he and his men ride home
from the hunt, tramples her to death under their horses’ hoofs.
Gudrun incites her sons Sorli and Hamdir to avenge their sister;
they boldly enter Jormunrek’s hall, and succeed in cutting off his
hands and feet, but are themselves slain by his men. This last
dramatic episode is told in the Eddic _Hamthismol_.
P. 94. _In the remotest east there grows a plant._ The germ of the
famous tea-simile is due to Fru Collett’s romance, “The Official’s
Daughters” (_cf._ Introduction, p. ix.). But she exploits the idea
only under a single and obvious aspect, viz., the comparison of the
tender bloom of love with the precious firstling blade which brews
the quintessential tea for the Chinese emperor’s table; what the
world calls love being, like what it calls tea, a coarse and
flavourless aftercrop. Ibsen has, it will be seen, given a number of
ingenious developments to the analogy. I know Fru Collett’s work
only through the accounts of it given by Brandes and Jæger.
P. 135. _Another Burns._ In the original: “Dölen” (“The Dalesman”),
that is A. O. Vinje, Ibsen’s friend and literary comrade, editor of
the journal so-called and hence known familiarly by its name. See
the Introduction.
P. 160. _Like Old Montanus._ The hero of Holberg’s comedy _Erasmus
Montanus_, who returns from foreign travel to his native parish with
the discovery that the world is not flat. Public indignation is
aroused, and Montanus finds it expedient to announce that his eyes
had deceived him, that “the world _is_ flat, gentlemen.”
ERRATA IN LATER VOLUMES
VOLUME II
Page 65, lines 13 and 15 from bottom, _for_ “Thorold” _read_
“Thorolf.”
Page 223, line 10 from top, _for_ “our” _read_ “your.”
Page 306, last line, _for_ “comes” _read_ “come.”
VOLUME III
Page 31, last line, first word “Ha!”
Page 41, line 9 from bottom, _for_ “wing” _read_ “wings.”
Page 106, last line, first word “But.”
Page 136, line 13 from bottom, _for_ “in” _read_ “is.”
Page 163, line 4 from bottom, _before_ “must” insert “I.”
Page 204, first line, _for_ “Babe” _read_ “Babel.”
VOLUME IV
Page 68, line 2 from top, _after_ “Black” _read_ “it.”
Page 165, line 2 from bottom, _for_ “than” _read_ “that.”
Page 226, line 10 from top, _for_ “mus” _read_ “muss.”
Page 239, line 5 from top, _for_ “That” _read_ “That’s.”
VOLUME VI
Page 288, line 10 from bottom, _for_ “railways” _read_ “railway.”
VOLUME VIII
Page 9, line 6 from top, _for_ “it” _read_ “is.”
Page 125, line 14 from top, _for_ “doubt” _read_ “doubts.”
Page 227, line 2 from top, _after_ “us” _insert_ “is.”
Page 296, line 14 from bottom, _after_ “takes” _delete_ comma.
Page 366, line 10 from bottom, _after_ “getting” _insert_ “some.”
VOLUME IX
Page 170, line 14 from top, _for_ “waters” _read_ “water.”
Page 243, line 8 from top, _for_ “rises” _read_ “rise.”
VOLUME X
Page 81, line 2 from bottom, _after_ “if” _insert_ “I.”
Page 151, line 2 from top, _delete_ second “the.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transcriber’s Note
The Notes that follow “Love’s Comedy” are indexed to page numbers
relative to the start of that play. Page 18, for instance, is
printed as page 304, and is the 18th page. The sole exception is the
final note, referenced to p. 160, which should be p. 168 according
to this scheme. The situation is moot in this text, as page numbers
are not preserved.
Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected,
and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the
original. The following issues should be noted, along with the
resolutions.
374.19 MISS JAY [(/[]_scoffing_.] Replaced.
431.30 my steps ha[s/ve] led Replaced.
465.3 _for_ “Thorold” _read_ “Thorolf[.”] Added.