AND EDUCATION IN DENMARK. 229 
the courtier takes to blustering ; and, having lost confidence in her 
old friend Beelzebub, the profligate hireling has recourse to another 
expedient. She takes a vile, ugly black dog; and, weeping rue- 
fully, she presents herself before the inflexible bride. ‘* What have 
you got here, my good woman?” the lady inquires sympathizingly. 
« Alas, Madam !” the siren asseverates, “I have met with a dread- 
ful misfortune. Believe me! I had a charming daughter, the most 
beautiful, the most affectionate, the most delicious young damsel, 
the eye ever beheld. Well! a young gentleman pays his addresses 
to her ; she declines the offer ; he persists ; she remains inflexible ; 
and, ir order to be revenged, the lover procures her being changed 
into a dog. There,” she exclaims, in pointing to the hideous brute 
beside her, “‘ there stands my poor dear child!” ‘O Heavens! is 
it possible,” cries the new-married wife, ‘that when a woman re- 
jects a declaration of love, she incurs the risk of being transformed 
into a beast?” “Nothing is more certain, Madam ; every day, the 
same thing occurs.” “Ah me! how unfortunate! Why, this very 
morning, I have rejected a man of fashion, every way accomplished, 
and abundantly amiable.” ‘Send for him instantly,” cries the be- 
trayer, “otherwise there is no knowing what may happen.” The 
gentleman re-appears ; the piece finishes ; and the audience separates, 
delighted and edified with so profound an artifice for deceiving a silly 
woman. 
Hansen's second essay is the “ Judgment of Paris ;” and it is 
nothing other than a combat of coquetry by three goddesses, who 
strive to gain the preference of a youthful shepherd. Juno promises 
him sovereignty: Minerva engages to endow him with wisdom: and 
Venus undertakes to delight him with the enjoyments of love and 
beauty. Paris is young, and sighs not for the sweets of power: nei- 
ther does he languish for the excellencies of wisdom: he pronounces 
the charms of Venus to be incomparable, and accepts her promised 
boon. Juno regards his award with scorn, and withdraws, uttering 
threats of vengeance. 
The Schoolmaster’s third lucubration bears the title, “ The Life 
and Death of Saint Dorothy ;” and this is a “ Mystery” founded 
on a play often acted in France and Germany, during the sixteenth 
century. 
In these dramatic productions of his, the worthy “ Dominie” of 
Odensee merits little commendation on the score of invention. Here 
and there, however, he sketches some interesting representations of 
manners, and doles out a few racy reflections. Otherwise, his verses 
