, 1875-09-08
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN.
(Frsm the SPECTATOR

in Copenhagen called the wonderful s~tory-tel-
ler,-to the last, a child in heart and in ignor-
ance OF the ways of worldliness. He belonged
to the quaint and simple Danish city ali his life
as entirely as Thorwaldsen belonged to it in his
later years, and in a more intimate way-in
proportion to the responsiveness of his "
nature and the warmth and variety Of his own
sympathies. He belonged to every family,
and had, more than the emtr6e-fOr, after all,
that implies a grace,-his own place in
every household. With the servants, as with
the masters, he was 'dear And'sen," and no
body ever passed him without a salutation.
tits hard to fancy city and suburb without his
familiar, shabby, ungainly, slouching figure,
in it's i'll Hitting, unbrushed clothes-{he always
wore Topping trousers which touched the toes
of his gigantic boots, and a shawl, his own or
anybody's. it did not matter, wrapped round
his shoulders),-and his ugly, musing face,
abstracted .seeming, but keenIy observant too,
with its high, reoeding forehead, its closest
eyes, and the steep incline from the top of the
forehead to the nape of the neck, as if the back
of the head had been sliced away. His indi-
viduality was perhaps more marked than that
of any famous man on record, and remained
more entirely unchanged by the lapse of time
and by circumstances. He never ceased to DO
a study to the observer who first regarded him
with the curiosity be inspired in every one
but each days observation was a fresh con-
hrmation of the impression he had made
within an hour of meeting him. In that charm
ing Danish society, frank, kindly, simple, cult
waited. it was a child they had set in the midst,
"a child, according to the ideal of childhood
keenly sensitive, entirely egoisticaI, innocently
vain, the centre of life, interest, concern and
meaning to himself, perfectly unconscious that
there existed another standard, an outer circle,
taking it for granted that everywhere and in
everything he was to be first and all glad
with the gladneSs, sorrowful with the passing
grief, of childhood, petulant and pOuling, down
right, without a notion of reticence, or indeed
of mOdesty, but equally without a notion of
eviiUr indecency full of ~optimist satisfaction
when all was well with himself, and yet incapa-
blesof self-seeking, or design of any kind dis
interested as much from ignorance Of advan-
tage to be gained or objects to be sought, as
from the -nobler Source of disinterestedness
incapable of considering the convenience, or
of understanding the ways and methods of
other people; in a word, always interesting,
but sometimes troublesome.
Nobody in Copenhagen would, however,
have been guilty Of the treason Of thinking
Andersen troublesome. 70 the inexhaustibIe
indulgence accorded tO.a pet child they added
the profound veferatiOh With which magma
tive people regard genius, especially 10 It's po-
ctic manifestation. Ihe "dear And'sen" had
rooms of his own, but he was rarely in them,
and be not only went as often as be liked
at any hours be liked to everybody's house,
but he might bring any number Of people, and
to have a friend who knew Andersen was a
passe part0ut in Denmark. He was perfectly re-
gardless of the ordinary forms of social life his
personal habits were exceedingly careless, not
TO say r~epulsive be was not agreeable as a
next neighbour, or as observed from over-the.
way, at a dinner table, for he ate voraciouSly,
and was a decidedly dirty feeder; he had no no.
ton oftime, and as pertinaciously required every
ore to be at his beck and call as any ourled darl-
ing 10 the nursery who is at once the plague and
the Joy Of the household. He had not an idea
of self-restraint or of d propos, and his intense
egotism was nourished by everybody and
everything. Il never occurred to him that
he was not the centre OF every ones life and
thoughts. He once entered a room, shook
hands all round, and then deserving a strang-
era young English lady just arrived at Co.
penhagen-he went up to her, took her by
both hands, addressed her as 'the English
Rose, who had come to Denmark to see a
great poet !" added, call your friends will be
happy that you are with Andersen" and went
off to fetch a photograph of himself, which he
bestowed on her with much emphasis. The
admiring circle perceived nothing either abb
surd or blameable in This, or any other mani
festa4oi of Andersen's vanity and indeed,
IA. ~-l-@~ Ia ~s--1 I. 1910