Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 4).djvu/162

Peer.

I share the honour with my cash,
With cook and steward——

Mr. Cotton.

                          Very well;^[1]
Let's pledge a toast to all the four!

Monsieur Ballon.

Monsieur,^[2] you have a gout,[2] a ton,[2]
That nowadays is seldom met with
Among men living en garçon,—[2]
A certain—what's the word——?

Von Eberkopf.

                                A dash,
A tinge of free soul-contemplation,
And cosmopolitanisation,^[3]
An outlook through the cloudy rifts
By narrow prejudice unhemmed,
A stamp of high illumination,
An Ur-Natur,[2] with lore of life,
To crown the trilogy, united.
Nicht wahr, Monsieur, 'twas that you meant?

Monsieur Ballon.

Yes, very possible; not quite
So loftily it sounds in French.

Von Eberkopf.

Ei was!^[4] That language is so stiff.—

1. In the original (early editions), "Werry well."
2. So in original.
3. This may not be a very lucid or even very precise rendering
   of Verdensborgerdomsforpagtning; but this line, and indeed the
   whole speech, is pure burlesque; and the exact sense of nonsense
   is naturally elusive.
4. So in original.