IN THE STATE OF DENMARK 129 



Ibsen was the topic that grew and prospered in the 

 pleasant atmosphere; a fruitful topic at all times in 

 Denmark, and sure to be treated there with a sanity 

 and a temperateness born, it must be, of innate know- 

 ledge of Ibsen's country, his language, his people, 

 frequently of Ibsen himself. He does not seem to 

 startle these neighbours of his ; they appreciate 

 strongly, they condemn vigorously, but there is no 

 discordant outcry of tongues newly versed in Ibsenese, 

 no fever and jerk of initiation, no enthusiastic flourish- 

 ing of new brooms. There appears little attempt to 

 claim for him a meaning beyond the simple reproduc- 

 tion of character and action; he himself claims no 

 more than this, and would not, so we were told, support 

 in any way the theories of those who will not leave 

 unexpounded even the dolls of the Master-Builder's 

 wife. 



It was natural that Ibsen's women should induce 

 comparison with Englishwomen, who, perhaps by their 

 own fault, seem so badly understood by the foreigner, 

 so insulated into a theory. It was not, of course, 

 their shortcomings of which we heard most, yet some 

 slight consciousness of reservation, hardly amounting 

 to disparagement, made us glad we were Irish. There 

 is nothing aggressively superior about being Irish — at 

 least, other people do not think so, and however that 

 may be, there is a sense of kinship between the Irish 

 and those who are not English that is curious, yet 

 unmistakable. Taking this into consideration, we 

 ventured to hope that it was intended as a compliment 

 when we were assured that we were quite unlike the 

 English, but it was not altogether so gratifying to 

 discover subsequently that Englishwomen were speci- 

 ally remarkable for their rich and handsome clothes. 



The discovery was present with us as the horses 

 took us along the main road again, and dived in at the 



