literary and scholarly talents Goldschmidt had great respect. That The
Corsair was under the ban of the law, so to speak, and had brought him
even a four-days' imprisonment, was a small matter to Goldschmidt; but
when Kierkegaard passed a scathing moral judgment on the paper,
Goldschmidt sold out for four thousand dollars and started with this sum
on his travels, "to get rid of wit and learn something better."

In 1847 he was again back in Copenhagen, and began life anew as editor
of North and South, a weekly containing excellent aesthetic and critical
studies, but mainly important on account of its social and political
influence. Already, in the time of The Corsair, Goldschmidt had begun
his work as novelist with 'A Jew,' written in 1843-45, and had taken
possession of the field which became his own. It was a promising book,
that met with immediate appreciation. Even Kierkegaard forgot for a
moment the editor of The Corsair in his praise. The Jews, however,
looked upon the descriptions of intimate Jewish family life somewhat as
a desecration of the Holy of Holies; and if broad-minded enough to
forgive this, thought it unwise to accentuate the Jew's position as an
element apart in social life. It argues a certain narrowness in
Goldschmidt that he has never been able to refrain from striking this
note, and Brandes blames him for the bad taste of "continually serving
his grandmother with sharp sauce."

Goldschmidt wrote another long novel, 'Homeless'; but it is principally
in his shorter works, such as 'Love Stories from Many Countries'
'Maser,' and 'Avromche Nightingale,' that he has left a great and good
gift to Danish literature. The shorter his composition, the more perfect
was his treatment. He was above all a stylist.

He always had a tendency to mysticism, and in his last years he was
greatly taken up with his theory of Nemesis, on which he wrote a book,
containing much that is suggestive but also much that is obviously the
result of the wish to make everything conform to a pet theory. His
lasting importance will be as the first and foremost influence on modern
Danish prose.

ASSAR AND MIRJAM

From 'Love Stories from Many Countries'

Assar, son of Juda, a valiant and jealous youth, came walking toward
Modin, when from one of the hills he saw a great sight on the plain.
Here warriors rode a chariot race in a great circle; many people stood
about, calling loudly to the drivers and the spirited horses. Yo