, 1874-02-14
HANS. CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN.
An Extract from His Autobiog-
raphy. =
Incidents Of a Visit to Great Britain

| had believed; waa not much strengthened
| after having spent about three weeks here, ant
/ no better than when came up Besides, we'll
| informed people, as I beloved they were, toli
me that there was no decent inn here for seT.
erA mies !; that it was necessary for me to en-.
| gage servant; in short, that should live II
better style than my purse would allow. To
| write to King Christian VIII, who had kindly
| offered to support INC, could not bring myself
! to do, ~ had verbally declined to accept that
| fagor, and now weeks would pass before could
Set an answer.. It was real torture! Iurote q
letter home, told them how I was, and that
thought it best for me- to retarn home, as also
did, but was obliged thereby to refuse various
| Invitations which received from aoma Of Scot
lands wealthy nobility to visit their homes. /
| was deprived Of the pleasure Of seeing Abbots-
ford, to which placa had 3. letter OF introduc-
ton Walter SCOTS aon~in-law, Lockhart,
whose guest had been in London, had received
me very kindly and aHectiqnately. His daugh-
ter, the grandfather's darling, had told me- Of
her dear grandfather At her house had seen
re1lca which had belonged to the great poet.-
bis magnificent Me-iike picture, as he sits with
his dog Mazda, gazing on me. Miss 1ockhart
presented me fnc-simue OF him who once was
called thu Great Unknown. Ahbotsford had to
be given up, rs aIeo Loch Laggsan, and return
ed homeward detected, leaving Glasgow for
Edinburgh.
I must tell mn event, in itself rery Insignificant,
but to me a new hint Of that fortunate star
which shines over mo in what is little we'll as
great. During my last stay in Naples I had
bought plain cana made Of palm, which had
accompanied me on my travels, and thus to
Scotland Alao; when I drove with Ha1nbro's
Loeb Lotnond, one Of the boys. had taken my
cane to play with, and, when We came within
sight Of Loeb Lo1nond he Lifted it up in the air
and exclaimed: ''Palm do you see the highest
Scotch mountain? Do YOU see there the wide
sea?" and so on; and promised that the cane.
when it should again visit Naples with me-
should tell bis comrados about the land Of mist.
where the spirits of Ossiau liycd, of tho Land
where the red thiBtle-fower was houored, set
sparkling i'll the heraldio arms for people and
}aud. The steamboat arrived sooner than We
had expected, and We were called upon in q
hurry to come on board. 81 Where is my cane 7"
I asked. It had been loft behind in the inn;
when ths boat which brought us to the north
end OF the lake returned, requested 1fr. Pug
gnard when he went ashore, to take the cane
with linn to Denmark. I arrived In Ediaburgh,
aud in the morning stood upon the platform at
the depot waiting to 70 from there to London,
when the train from the north arrived T. few
minutes before the departure Of our train. The
conductor alghted, came up to me, seemed to
know me, and delivered mo my cane, while he
tnilingly eaid, ''It has travelled very well
aloue' little label was attached to it, with
the Inscriptions "Tbe Danish poet, Haas Chris
tim Andersen !" and they had takeu such careof
itthat the cane had passed from hand to hand,
first with the steamboat On Loeb Lomond, then
with al ounibus-conductor- after that BY steam
bont again, and now by a railway train, only By
means OF its little address-label; it reached my
hands just as the signal was given to start. I
am Bt,u under obligation to tell tho adventures
Of the cane; wish might some time do it Us
well as it Uadc its journey alcna! !.
went southwark by way Of Nevcaatla aud
York In the earriage met the English aEthor
Hook and his wife; they knew me, aud told mo
that all the Scotch newspapers bad mentioned
my stay with tho Queen IL, who had never been
there.at ali! The newspapers knew it, and one
OF them said that had read aloud my stories,
yet not word Of it was true. I bought at ono
Of the stations tho most recent copy Of Punch.
1t WAS meuticued there; It had ealy, little
remark. about a foreigner, poet from abroad,
being honorcd by Al in7itatio1 from the Queen
that had never been bestowed on any Ecglieh
author. Tint and various other reports Of =
Speaking Of that witty paper. Punch, one Of my
fellow-trayelers said, ''Ihat it was d sign Of
great popularity to be spoken OF in it, anu that
many an EnEhshman would pay his pounds to
come to that!" ] would rather prefer to be ex-
empt from it; low-sprited and depressed BY
the publicity, I arrived at London almost seict.
Iremained couple Of days in London. ! had
still not seen ANYTHING there but high life, and |
several OF the count1ys most excellent men and !
women galleries, museums; and all such things |
were on tha contrary new to mo had not even |
had time to visit the Tunnel. Early one morn- !
ing decided to 80 to scc it !; l was advised to !
70 By one Of tho many small steamers which are |
running up aud down tue Thames through the |
gave up the long excursion to the Tunnel, and !
it may be that my life was sarcd thereby for on !
the same day, and at the very hour was to haya
goae On board, one Of the steamers, the Cricket |
VAS blown up with 100 passengers Tho report |
Of the disaster vas Immediately spread over all |
London, and, although it was not at all certain
that should have gone by just this boat, sill
The possibility. oven tue probability, was so near,
hat became solenlnly aud gratefully i'm
pressed. aud thanked my God for tue llluess that
me shortly before the moment whsn
should Aave gone on board
Society lad now left London, tho opera rss
closed, most Of my best friends had left for dif-
[e1eut watering places or for the Continent. +
onged for Denmark, and for my dear ones
here; but before I took leave Of England I
yas invited to spend q few days moro in the
:ountzy. at Seven Oaks" At the house Of my
Mr. Richard Bentley. That little
own, near by Knowles renowned park, is cit
1nted not fat from the railway to the English
nd agreeable visit to make on uy way home.
nd been before at Seven Oaks, which is 9 pref
= little town. This time went by railway to
runbridge. where. Bentley's carriage was sent
or UA. AAula0 nhtUIe WAd Hi h0Ouk me Tue |
ountry was varied with beautiful hills, On which
1879 and there stood many old trees, that rem
ered the whole landscape like park; hedges
L al iron fence formed the boundary. Elegant
nd comfortable rooms, roses aud evergreen in
he garden, close by The celebrated Knowe
ark, whose old castle belongs to the Earl OF
4m1erst. One Of the possessor's ancestors WAS |
poet, and in l1is honor one OF the saloons is {
allied the poet-s.loon ; here is the portrnit Of :
lat old right honorable Lord, the poet, in full
ength, and the portraits OF other famous posts
dorm the other wnlls, as if for company for the
eignipg poet. In one Of the ueighboring
ouses' s''Fas coatumef-shop just like the Old |
uriosity Shop which Dickens has painted for us |
!, Master Humphreys Clock" The day passed
way like feast for me among those kind peo-
le became familiar with TINT genuine old |
,nglieh, excellent iamily-life, where Was found
u the comfort that wealth and kindness can I
reate.
How much needed tranquility and repose
fter the great exertion which my stay in Eng q
md and Scotland had occasioned. II ] Eas a
cary and exhausted, still felt-and how could Z
be otherwise "a great sadness at leaving SO j
ANY who bad offered me so much pleasure aud I
one me 80 much good Among many Of those t
hon loved and should not zee sSain, at least | e
u long time, was Charles Dickens. He had, t
nee our acquaintance at Lady DIesnDgton's, =
lied upon me without finding me IT. home. | Z
Fe did not meet again in London I receiyed a | c
NJ letters from him, and he brought me all bis | q
orks in beautiful illustrated edition, and in | t