eresting had been a visit to Lemvig in former times!
Then it furnished matter for conversation with Rosalie for many weeks;
it now lay before him a subject of indifference. The people were
certainly the same, therefore the change must have taken place in
himself. He thought of Copenhagen, which stood so high, and of the
people there.

"After all, the difference is not so great!" said he. "In Copenhagen
the social foci are more numerous, the interests more varied; each day
brings a fresh topic of conversation, and one can choose one's society.
The multitude, on the contrary, has something citizenish; it obtrudes
itself even from beneath the ball-dress which shows itself at court; it
is seen in the rich saloon of the wholesale merchant, as well as in the
house of the brandy distiller, whose possessions give to him and his two
brewers the right of election. It is the same food which is presented
to us; in the small towns one has it on earthenware, in Copenhagen on
china. If one had only the courage, in the so-called higher classes,
to break through the gloss which life in a greater circle, which
participation in the customs of the world, has called forth, one should
soon find in many a lady of rank, in many a nobleman who sits not
alone in the theatre, on the first bench, merely that empty common
earthenware; and that, as with the merchant's wife in Lemvig, a dejeuner
or a soiree, like some public event, will occupy the mind before and
after its occurrence. A court-ball, at which either the son or daughter
has figured, resembles the most brilliant success in an examination for
office. We laugh at the authorities of Lemvig, and yet with us the crowd
runs after nothing but authorities and newspapers. This is a certain
state of innocence. How many a poor officer or student must play the
subordinate part of the shopman at the table of the rich, and gratefully
kiss the hand of the lady of the house because she has the right of
demanding gratitude? And in the theatre, with the multitude, what does
not 'an astonishing chest' do? A strength of voice which can penetrate
right through the leather of the mind gains stormy applause, whilst
taste and execution can only be appreciated by the few. The actor can
be certain of applause if he only thunder forth his parting reply. The
comedian is sure of a shout of bravo if he puts forth an insipidity, and
rubs his legs together as if replying with spirit and humor. The massive
plate in the