h. There was, in other
words, a certain charming juvenility in his attitude toward existence,
which presented to him no riddles that a man with a strong arm and an
honest heart might not solve with comparative ease. All problems were to
him soluble with the sword; and Alexander, when he cut the Gordian knot,
must have appeared to him wiser, as he was surely more admirable, than
either Plato or Socrates. This scorn of all metaphysical subtleties, and
reliance upon strength and Swedish manhood, are, perhaps (from an
advanced European point of view), indicative of a little intellectual
immaturity; but they are thoroughly characteristic of the Scandinavian
nationalities. The love of brave words and brave deeds, the exaltation
of the man of action above the man of thought, the pleasure in reckless
gallantry and foolhardy adventure, are, however, not confined to Swedes
and Norwegians, but are characteristic of the boyhood of every nation.
In the Scotchman, Robert Louis Stevenson, this jaunty juvenility, this
rich enjoyment of bloody buccaneers and profane sea-dogs, is carried to
far greater lengths, and the great juvenile public of England and
America, both young and old, rises up and calls him blessed.

There is, however, a vast difference between Tegner's youthfulness and
that of Stevenson. The latter (in spite of the charm of his style, which
is irresistible) strikes me as a sort of mediaeval survival--a boyish
feudal sixteenth-century spirit astray in the nineteenth. I am by no
means insensible to the fascination of his capricious confidences, his
beautiful insight, and his exquisite humor; but for all that, he always
leaves me with a vague regret at his whimsicality and a certain lack of
robustness in his intellectual equipment. In Tegner, on the other hand,
it is primarily the man who is impressive; and the author is interesting
as the revelation of the man. He has no literary airs and graces, but
speaks with a splendid authority, _e plena pectore_, from the fulness of
his manly conviction. He seems a very personification of the national
genius--fair, vigorous, and beautiful--with the glow of health in his
cheeks and the light of courage in his eye. His vision of the world is
bright and vivid, and he swims with a joyous ease in the high-tide of
the moment, like a beautiful fish in the luminous summer sea.

As a specimen of magnificent manhood Tegner had few equals in his day.
Tall, robust, and finely proportioned as he