whether the poet intended to characterise your nation by it."
The other auditors could not tell whether the old friend intended this seriously, or as a joke; but the young Dane burst out into an immoderate fit of laughter, and at length exclaimed:
"Well, that would be something to boast of! No, I have by far too great an opinion of my favourite to be able to suspect him of such an act of insipidity. To accuse a whole nation, and as it were to change it into a single person, in order to ridicule it upon his theatre. No, my dear friend, he was too much of a poet and philosopher, too great a cosmopolite and philanthropist, even to entertain for a single moment the idea of such an act of foolishness, much less for him to be able to commit it. But even were I to take it in this sense, (which I certainly will not admit) then as a Dane, I should likewise appropriate to myself all the wit of the prince, his deep penetration, his amiable character, his presence of mind, and that peculiar humour which is not to be found in any other work of Shakspeare. And thus we shall at least have gained as much as we have lost by this pretended accusation."
