LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 



161 



been translated into English, French, and Ger- 

 man. Longfellow has translated his Children 

 of the Lord's Supper. In the glow of his imag- 

 ination, his fine artistic feeling, and his won- 

 derful command of rhythm, Tegner ranks 

 among the first of modern poets. He died in 

 1850. As writers of fiction, Count Sparre, au- 

 thor of Adolf Findiing, Frederika Bremer, 

 whose fame, as a painter of Swedish life, has 

 extended over both hemispheres, and Madame 

 Flygare-Carlen, author of the Rose of Thistle 

 Island, have attained an honorable place. The 

 most celebrated works of Miss Bremer are The 

 'Neighbors, The Home, and Strife and Peace. 



There are few names in Danish literature 

 before the last century. Ludwig von Holberg, 

 born in 1685, was the first who achieved a 

 permanent reputation as poet and historian. 

 Towards the close of the last century Denmark 

 produced many distinguished scholars and men 

 of science. Rafn and Finn Magnusen rescued 

 the old Icelandic sagas from oblivion, and es- 

 tablished the fact of the discovery of New 

 England by Bjorne in the tenth century ; Pe- 

 tersen became renowned as a classical scholar 

 and critic ; Oersted is a well known name in 

 science and philosophy ; and Muller and Allen 

 successfully labored in the department of his- 

 tory. Nearly all these authors first became 

 known in the present century. At the head of 

 Denmark's poets is (Ehlensch lager, who died 

 in 1850. His national tragedies, epics, and 

 lyrics were written partly in German and partly 

 in Danish. He is considered the originator of 

 the artist-drama, of which his Coreggio is a 

 masterpiece. Baggesen, who commenced his 

 career in the last century, is one ol' the first 

 Danish lyric poets. Heiberg devoted himself 

 to vaudeville and the romantic drama, and 

 Ilauch to tragedy, in which he is justly dis- 

 tinguished. Hertz is known through his King 

 Rene's Daughter*, which has been successfully 

 produced on the English stage. One of the 

 most distinguished of modern Danish authors 

 is Hans Christian Andersen, known alike as 

 poet, novelist, and tourist. His romances of 

 Danish life are the most characteristic of his 

 works, though he is better known out of his 

 Rative country by his Improvisators and The 

 True Story of My Life. Norway cannot be 

 said to have had a literature distinct from the 

 Danish until after its union with Sweden in 

 1814. The period from that time to the present 

 has been one of great literary activity in all 

 departments, and many distinguished names 

 ' might be mentioned, among them that of 

 Bjornson whose tales have been extensively 

 translated. Jonas Lie, who enjoys a wide 

 popularity, Camilla Collett, and Magdalene 

 Thoresen are also favorite writers. Wergeland 



and Welhaven were two distinguished poets of 

 the first half of the century. Kielland is an 

 able novelist of the realistic school, and Pro- 

 fessor Boyesen . is well known in the United 

 States for his tales and poems in English. 

 Henrik Ibsen is the most distinguished dra- 

 matic writer of Norway and belongs to the real- 

 istic school. Among other recent writers are 

 Borjesson, whose Eric XIV. is a masterpiece of 

 Swedish drama ; Tekla Knos, a poetess whose 

 claims have been sanctioned by the Academy ; 

 and Claude Gerard (nom de plume), very pop- 

 ular as a novelist. 



RUSSIAN LITERATURE. 



The first fragments of Russian literature 

 belong to the tenth and eleventh centuries. 

 They consist principally of rude songs and 

 legends, the hero of which is Wladimir the 

 Great, who first introduced Christianity into 

 the country. Nestor, a monk in the monas- 

 tery of Kiev, who died in the year 1116, left 

 behind him a collection of annals, beginning 

 with 852, which threw much light on the early 

 history of Russia. After the empire was freed 

 from the Mongolian rule by Ivan I. in 1478, 

 the progress of literature and the arts were 

 more rapid. The first printing press was es- 

 tablished in Moscow in 1564, though the Acad- 

 emy in that city was not founded until a cen- 

 tury later. Peter the Great devoted much at- 

 tention to the Russian language and literature. 

 At his command, the characters used in print- 

 ing were greatly simplified and improved. The 

 first Russian newspaper was printed in 1705, 

 in this character. 



From 1650 to 1750, Russia produced several 

 authors, but principally among the clergy, and 

 their works are dissertations on theology or 

 lives of the saints. Tatitschev wrote a His- 

 tory of Russia, which still retains some value. 

 The only poet of this period was Kantemir, son 

 of the Hospodar of Moldavia, who entered the 

 Russian service, devoted himself to study, and 

 obtained much reputation from his satires. 

 Towards the close of the last century, and es- 

 pecially during the reigns of Elizabeth and 

 Catharine II., the establishment of universities 

 and academies of science and art, contributed 

 greatly to the development of the language 

 and the encouragement of literature. The 

 distinction between the old Slavic and mod- 

 ern Russian dialects is strongly exhibited 

 in the works of Lomonosow, and the pre- 

 dominance of the latter was still further de- 

 termined by Sumarakow, the first Russian 

 dramatist, whose plays were performed on the 

 stage. Cheraskow, who belongs to the last 

 half of the eighteenth century, wrote a long 

 epic poem on the Conquest of Kazan, and an- 



