adings of the ballad, to discover. In that case I
can only ask pardon for my obtuseness.

BJOERNSTERNE BJOERNSON

June 1, 1895. Bjoernson's First Manner.

I see that the stories promised in Mr. Heinemann's new series of
translations of Bjoernson are _Synnoeve Solbakken_, _Arne_, _A Happy
Boy_, _The Fisher Maiden_, _The Bridal March_, _Magnhild_, and
_Captain Mansana_. The first, _Synnoeve Solbakken_, appeared in 1857.
The others are dated thus:--_Arne_ in 1858, _A Happy Boy_ in 1860,
_The Fisher Maiden_ in 1868, _The Bridal March_ in 1873, _Magnhild_ in
1877, and _Captain Mansana_ in 1879. There are some very significant
gaps here, the most important being the eight years' gap between _A
Happy Boy_ and _The Fisher Maiden_. Again, after 1879 Bjoernson ceased
to write novels for a while, returning to the charge in 1884 with
_Flags are Flying in Town and Haven_, and following up with _In God's
Way_, 1889. Translations of these two novels have also been published
by Mr. Heinemann (the former under an altered title, _The Heritage of
the Kurts_) and, to use Mr. Gosse's words, are the works, by which
Bjoernson is best known to the present generation of Englishmen. "They
possess elements which have proved excessively attractive to certain
sections of our public; indeed, in the case of _In God's Way_, a novel
which was by no means successful in its own country at its original
publication, has enjoyed an aftermath of popularity in Scandinavia,
founded on reflected warmth from its English admirers."

Taking, then, Bjoernson's fiction apart from his other writings (with
which I confess myself unacquainted), we find that it falls into three
periods, pretty sharply divided. The earliest is the idyllic period,
pure and simple, and includes _Synnoeve_, _Arne_, and _A Happy Boy_.
Then with _The Fisher Maiden_ we enter on a stage of transition. It is
still the idyll; but it grows self-conscious, elaborate, confused by
the realism that was coming into fashion all over Europe; and the
trouble and confusion grow until we reach _Magnhild_. With _Flags are
Flying_ and _In God's Way_ we reach a third stage--the stage of
realism, some readers would say. I should not agree. But these tales
certainly differ remarkably from their predecessors. They are much
longer, to begin with; in them, too, realism at length preponderates;
and they are probably as near to pure realism as Bjoernson will ever
get.

If asked to label these three peri