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    ¦ Bfcft . 412 ; . ]? ebotmy 13 , 1858 . ] T HE LEADER . 163

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    romantic and thoughtful disposition—used to dream awajhis time , looking IHhfpaintings , reading novels by the hundred as fast as Le could get them from a circulating library at the capital , and building castles in the air . His mother was a German by birth , and partly by blood , but her mother was a Dane- and the youth was bred up in the Danish language and read none but Danish books . The parents spoke in the same tongue , except when they wanted to talk to one another without the children understanding them , when they employed German , which , indeed was their vernacular . The boy thus nursed in a taste for ideality was Adam Gottlob Oehlenacbla « rer , destined to be one of the greatest ornaments of his country s literature and a dramatic poet whom his fellow Danes , in the flush of their pride and gratitude , have not hesitated to compare to Shakspeare . J-lie literary life of Oehlenschlager was an almost uninterrupted series ot triumphs . He soon found out that the tendency of his mind was towards noetrv and more especially to the dramatic form of that art ; and he was witli

    doubtless encouraged in his literary aspirations by two fellow students ¦ whom he lodged at Copenhagen—the illustrious brothers Oersted , one of them the discoverer of electro-magnetism , the other an eminent lawyer , and at one time Prime Minister of the kingdom . The young poet witnessed from a balcony the attack by Nelson on the Danish fleet oS Copenhagen in 1801—Nelson , the Englishman whom some Danes , to soothe their national self-love , have said must have been of Danish descent , if there be any faith in names . That battle , Oehlenschlager afterwards stated , inspired the Danes with a love of poetry , as the battles of Marathon and Salamis inspired the Greeks , and the defeat of the Spanish Armada the English . Two years later , Oehlenschlager appeared as a poet , and soon made a name for himself . He travelled in Germany , became acquainted with Goethe ,

    and the other great Teutonic writers of that time , and wrote plays m German , translating others , which he had originally composed in Danish , into the sister tongue . Before quitting Germany , he was accidentally present at Weimar on the day of the double battle of Auerstadt and Jena . He afterwards went to Paris , and composed there his tragedy of Palnaiuke , by some esteemed his finest work . This he read to his countryman Baggesen , who had previously occupied the highest position among the Danish poets ; and that writer , in a transport of admiration , flung himself at the feet of the younger poet . The act was noble ; but—ahis for human nature !—Baggesen afterwards became jealous of the increasing fame of his i-ival , and attacked him with much bitterness . For this he got into such disfavour with the populace that he expatriated himself in a passion of wrath and jealousy , and

    died abroad . In the meanwhile , Oehlenschlager waxed day by day in renown and prosperity . Paying a visit to Sweden in 1825 , he was received with a perfect ovation , as if he had been a conqueror returning from the wars . He was met by a procession of students on the high road ; was addressed m the cathedral of Lund by Tegner , the bishop of Wexio ( acknowledged by . all as the chief poet of Sweden ) , who delivered a panegyric in hexameters ; and was crowned with laurel in the midst of a stdrm of music and cannon , and in the presence of an immense crowd , including his wife and children . Indeed , he appears to have been regarded with something of a Pan-Scandinavian feeling , as throwing a glory on the whole northern race . A second visit to Sweden , and one to Norway , were equally triumphant ; and he was patronized , not only by his own monarch , but by those who could have had no sympathy of race with him—namely , by Louis Philippe , and by Leopold of Belgium . A grand festival was given in his honour ut Copenhagen on his seventieth birthday , November 14 th , 1849 , on which occasion he recited a poetical address of thanks , wherein he

    observed—The feast I share is not my funeral feast . It was nearly so , however ; for , on the 20 th of January , 1850—little more than two months after lie had spoken those words—he died . He had been a vain man all his life , and on his death-bed his egotism ripened to an enormous growth . An hour and a half before he breathed his last , he requested his son to read to him that portion of a scene in his tragedy of : ' Socrates where the great philosopher speaks of death . " It is , " he remarked , " so unspeakably beautiful . " He heard the passage read with great emotion , " looking round , " says a biographer , " with a smile of pleasure . \\ hen it was concluded , he put an end " to the reading , and took lenve of his family . He had previously dix-ected that the same tragedy should be performed at the theatre on the occasion of his funeral .

    Novels and poems , as well as plays , flowed from the fertile pen of Oehlen-. schliiger . The former are not greatly esteemed ; but the dramatic works have given him a European reputation . His tragedies are twenty-four in number , and nineteen arc on Scandinavian subjects—bo thoroughly northern and national was his mind . To these ho added several comedies and operas . We have been at tho pains of collecting these fow particulars of the poet s literary life , because wo believe Oehlenschlager is not much known in England , and such little bits of personal identity may be pleasant to any reader whom we may induce to go to the translation now before us . Aladdin was one of the dramatist ' s earliest works , and Oehlenschlager used to say that in it ho had discovered his own ' wonderful lamp '— -that is to say , tho vein

    of poetry , which waa destined to give him fume and fortune . Some portions , says Mr . Martin , in his Preface , were translated in JJlac / cicood ' s Magazine , by Mr . It . P . Gillies , in 1810 ; but he does not seem to bo aware that portions were also translated by the hvto Archdeacon' Hare in a Miscellany issued in 1820 by Mr . Oilier . The Archdeacon ( who id known by liis lino rendering of La Motte Fouqu ^' s Siulram ) was peculiarly qualified lor such a task , by his groat knowledge of , and intense sympathy > vitl » , the northern J g . ungo / SK _ Mv , ThopUpro Martjn also is knpVn »<* h P >^' oiis Jl J ! 13 5 !^ L , Obhlonschiliger , having in 1 SSTintroduccd tluTEngliiliTpuHic to Clio Dnnisli poet ' s Correggio ; and ho eecma to have gone to his tusk with enthusiasm and love . Of tho present play ho remarks : —

    begun to stir within Lira , he found , aa Le says in his Autobiography , a veritable Aladdin ' s Lamp . His own passion sought a v « nt in depicting Aladdin ' s for Gulnare , and his tears for a loving and much-loved mother overflowed as be wrote the Dirge of the Eastern bo } - at the grave of Morgiaria . Thus heart and fancy were thrown intensely into the poem , and they give to it a vivid charm beyond that of his more mature and faultless works . The poet Las not ventured to deviate from the familiar incidents of the Eastern tale . Indeed , Le follows them with such minuteness , that occasionally the action drags , and the dialogue labours . In a few instances the translator has ventured to compress passages which are open to this objection , more particularly where the Lumour is of a texture too flimsy for the taste of a nation nursed in the schools of Shakspeare and Fielding , Tliis liberty might , perhaps , have been carried further , without injury to the poem ; but even the flaws of a work of genius possess an interest for the student .

    There is no doubt that ? the drama might have been further compressed with great advantage . It consists of no less than ten acts , and is sometimes diffuse and feeble . The humour is frequently pleasant and genial , but is not always equally good , and even the poetry at times suffers from tenuity . Yet , notwithstanding these drawbacks , the Aladdin of Oehlenschlager is a charming work . If it have the faults of youth , it has also the excellencies a bright vivacity , a happy dance of fancy , a luxuriance of feeling and perception" ( making some amends for the want of profound insight into the complex mysteries of the heart ) , and the unmistakable presence of a feeling of enjoyment , enthusiasm , and hopefulness on the part of the writer . The genii of poetry were attending on his beck , and had not tired of fetching him rich dowries from the haunted depths of imagination . He fills with a new life the glorious story which came to him from the lands of the East ( but of which , by ^ the-by , no Arabic or Persian original can now be traced ) ; and vision the and statel lendours of

    causes to pass before our gorgeousness y sp Ispahan , the enchantments of the lamp and ring , the rich and subtle world of Persian faery , the humble abodes of Oriental poverty , and the strange vicissitudes of Oriental life . His descriptions are warm and bright with tropic sunshine and the glimmer of magic ; and he has interspersed his drama with several charming lyrics , which trill and murmur in tLe pauses of the blank verse , like the singing of the nymphs in elf-land . "Very complete , delicate , and affluent is tlie poet's perception of the supernatural part of the story , which , however , exhibits traces of the writer ' s northern birth . To the Persian world of genii he joins the Teutonic world of elves and fairiesas Shakspeare introduced Puck , Oberon , and Titania into the woods of ancient Attica . But this overshadowing of the North shows itself in other respects . Aladdin , in the Second Part , becomes a kind of chivalric hero , bearing , indeed , a resemblance to the llustum of Persian and . the Antar of Arabhui fable , but also touched with something of the Christian ideal . First and

    The character of Aladdin is excellently discriminated in the Second Parts . At the commencement , he is a gay , thoughtless boy , speaking much as any other boy with a vivacious nature would do ; but afterwards , as he ascends into the regions of royalty , and passes through the extremes of prosperity and misfortune , the language heightens and expands with the circumstances , ami often rises into grandeur or" softens into pathos . The drama diners from the original story in making the death of Aladdin ' s mother an incident ; and this leads to some affecting scenes , Aldadin , conceiving that he has hastened her death by neglect , and being at the same time under a temporary reverse of fortune , goes mad for a while ; but this deviation from the story , as well as some others , is gladly received for the sake of the fine writing it brings along with it . The love passages are often full of languid and seductive sweetness , sometimes reminding the reader ( though they arc on a lower scale ) of similar speeches in Romeo and Juliet ^ and at others seeming as if inspired by tho flaunting and superabundant " ¦ enius of Marlowe . The character of the homely , garrulous , affectionate mother of Aladdin is also effectively sketched , and is well contrasted , in all its humble . simplicity and Sancho Panza-like wealth of proverbs , with the ideal aspirationsuf the son . # We had marked several passages for extract , but space forbids our giving more than two . Here is a sketch of the marvellous subterranean garden . Aladdin is speaking in a style of boyish wonderment : — Oh me ! what a strange garden ! All the trees Full of Much pretty fruit I Kipe , rosy apples , CJSrceu ' -gogos , peaches with a purple bloom , And orangea like flame ; white gooseberries , And , oh mo ! grapes!—spine blue as heavun itself , And others oleur as water in a stream . How Hweetly -winds ) tho little brook through all ! Oh , what a pity there is no ' or a bird To warblu in ami out among tho leaves ! How very still it is ! What pretty flowers , Yellow and flligreed , liko ruddy gold ! llu , what tremendous lilies ! How they shine , As though cueli leaf were out of silver curved ! I'll smell tt > one of them ! They have no smell ! How cornea It now they have no smell , 1 wonder V ] My uncle , I must own , was in tho right ; This Hort of tiling is only worth a look , And then good-by . —But seo ! there hangs tho lamp ! How strangely does its stondy gleam light up All round about , and make it bountiful ! And hero is Aladdin's account of his journey through tho air with tho the genie who releases him from the cavern : — My head is all nspin . Well ! such a journey I never mndo ii » all my life before ! Ho uuughfc mo by tho waist ; tho parting uir _^_ , „ Around ^ nio . Uiwod , ~ lilio .. WtttorJnauuJUaUju _ w __^—r _^__^__ , „ ,. „ In tho clear moonshine , what a height ho ( low ! And oh , how wtrangoly sinull tho earth became ! Groat Ispahan itself , with all its lights , That in tho distance ono by one wont out , Looked liko u bit of paper which wo burn , And soo tho boy » nil running out q f school , « " In ft wide circle round tho sky ho wheeled , That I might viuw tho wide expanse of earth ,

    The * Aladdin' of OohlcnaohHigor boars tho murks of youth—but it is tho youth of goniiw , rich in tho exuberance of , a fearless fancy , and revelling in tho exorcise of a newly awakened power . When it wub written , Oehlonechlitgor wus iu tho ftrst bloom of . manhood i ho wus iu love , und ho hud recently lost his mother . Alnddin s story aoomed to havo an uillniby to hiu own . In the faculty of noetic oruution which hud

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 13, 1858, page 163, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2230/page/19/