can their marriage be annulled, that they may legally many any one else. Not does this absolutely involve a loss of respectability. It is not common, however, to find this legal license made use of.
Carstens Hauch, born 1791, of a good family, was a professor at Kiel, which he left when the Holstein war unhappily broke out. He resides now on the island of Æröe, and still contributes to the literary stores of his country, which he has enriched with dramas, poems, and novels. Hauch is a most prolific as well as a favourite writer. Among his works may be named his "Iris," a miscellany, containing poetry and prose. His "two poems," one of which is called "The Sailor;s return Home;" his "Lyrical Poems;" "Rosaura,” a lyrical drama; "The Contrasts," two dramatic poems; "The Siege of Maestricht," "The Death of Charles V.," "Tiberius," and "Svend Grathe," tragedies; "A Polish Family," a romance, &c., &c.
The most celebrated work of Henrik Herz, who was born in 1798, is "King René's Daughter," a drama which has been beautifully translated into English by Miss Chapman. He is the author of some other plays, and also of some poems; among the latter are his "Poetiske Epistler fra Paradis," published in 1831, and his "Lyrical Dramatic Poems,” published ten years later. Among the former, "En Eneste Feil," "A Single Fault," "Love and the Police," and The "Corsairs." There are some specimens of Herz's poetry in Christian Winther's "Collection of One hundred and five Danish Romances;" one of them, the "Troubadour," is extremely pretty. There are in the same volume some good specimens of Hauch's short poems—of course, some of Winther's own, and those of his near relative, Paul Möller. Christian Winther and Paul Möller are both poets of the present day; the latter has translated the “Odysee” into Danish, as well as having written original poems. Winther is also a writer of novels—for this department of literature has now plenty of votaries in Denmark. Among these, the writers who publishes under the names of St. Hermidad and Carl Bernhard, hold prominent places. Their works are clever and lively, and graphic in their descriptions. "Et aar i Kiöbenhavn," "A Year in Copenhagen," in two volumes; "Lykkens Yndling," "Fortune's Favourite," "Old Souvenirs," "A Country Family," "The Commissioner," "Chronicles from the Times of Erik of Pomerania," "Chronicles from the Times of Christian II.," and other works, show that Mr. St. Aubain is not a loiterer in the path he has chosen for himself. If these pages should ever meet the eye of that talented author, we must hope that he will pardon us for giving the name he modestly desires to conceal.[1]
Professor Sibbern is another distinguished writer; his most admired
- ↑ It is at least believed in Copenhagen that Carl Bernhard, which is admitted to be a fictitious name, and Mr. St. Aubain, are one and the same.
were betrothed in Copenhagen at a very early age, and after a short acquaintance. The gentleman was obliged by circumstances to spend some years in a distant colony. They were at length enabled to meet and to marry. But both had changed in feelings, habits, and everything else; they were miserable. The lady insisted on a divorce, which was obtained; she was a Lutheran, and married again. He, being a Roman Catholic, could not be released from his vows without a dispensation from the Pope. He was not rich enough, or energetic enough, to procure this; so he remains in the peculiar position of an unmarried and yet married man!
