study of law. Accordingly, on the fourteenth of February, 1835, he left
his modest but secure position in Wesselburen for the alluring great
world where he felt that he belonged, but where he was destined to toil
and to suffer, in a struggle for existence which only a hardy
North-German peasant could have endured.

Hebbel came to Hamburg as a young man of twenty-two, far ahead of his
years in knowledge, judgment, and capacity, but still unacquainted with
rudimentary things belonging to higher education, such as Latin grammar.
He could not find the right tone in dealing with his benefactors, and he
suffered unspeakable humiliation in the conflict of a proud and
independent spirit with the subjection which inconsiderate well-wishers
imposed upon him. He learned more by private reading and by association
with students in a Scientific Society than he learned in school; and to
one woman, Elise Lensing, who became his friend and angel of mercy, he
owed more than to the whole aggregation of those who gave him money and
meals. Somewhat more than eight years his senior, in respect to
experience of the world and training in the finer graces of life his
superior, she aided, encouraged, and loved him, well aware that his
feeling for her was, at the most, admiration and gratitude, and that the
intimate union and companionship which soon became for him an
indispensable solace could never lead to marriage.

In Hamburg Hebbel began the diary which, continued throughout his life,
is the most valuable source of information about him that we have, and
which, being the repository of his meditations as well as the record of
his experiences, is one of the most remarkable documents of the kind
ever composed. He wrote and published a number of poems, and began
several short stories. More significant, however, was the development
of his critical faculty, which found in the Scientific Society a free