al literature
till Botten Hansen wrote his review of Part (Hefte) XI. This part
contains _King John_. The reviewer, however, does not enter upon any
criticism of the play or of the translation; he gives merely a short
account of Shakespearean translation in the two countries before
Lembcke. Apparently the notice is written without special research, for
it is far from complete, but it gives, at any rate, the best outline of
the subject which we have had up to the present. Save for a few lines of
praise for Foersom and a word for Hauge, "who gave the first accurate
translation of this masterpiece (_Macbeth_) of which Dano-Norwegian
literature can boast before 1861," the review is simply a loosely
connected string of titles. Toward the close Botten Hansen writes:
"When to these plays (the standard Danish translations) we add (certain
others, which are given), we believe that we have enumerated all the
Danish translations of Shakespeare." This investigation has shown,
however, that there are serious gaps in the list. Botten Hansen calls
Foersom's the first Danish translation of Shakespeare. It is curious
that he should have overlooked Johannes Boye's _Hamlet_ of 1777, or
Rosenfeldt's translation of six plays (1790-1792). It is less strange
that he did not know Sander and Rahbek's translation of the unaltered
_Macbeth_ of 1801--which preceded Hauge by half a century--for this was
buried in Sander's lectures. Nor is he greatly to be blamed for his
ignorance of the numerous Shakespearean fragments which the student may
find tucked away in Danish reviews, from M.C. Brun's _Svada_ (1796) and
on. Botten Hansen took his task very lightly. If he had read Foersom's
notes to his translation he would have found a clue of interest to him
as a Norwegian. For Foersom specifically refers to a translation of a
scene from _Julius Caesar_ in _Trondhjems Allehaande_.

[7. Vol. XIV, p. 96.]

Lembcke's revision, which is the occasion of the article, is greeted
with approval and encouragement. There is no need for Norwegians to go
about preparing an independent translation. Quite the contrary. The
article closes: "Whether or not Lembcke has the strength and endurance
for such a gigantic task, time alone will tell. At any rate, it is the
duty of the public to encourage the undertaking and make possible its
completion."

We come now to the most interesting chapter in the history of
Shakespeare in Norway. This is a performance of _A Midsumme