difference of native intellectual bent that has left Björnson to stand
as the typical representative of the Norwegian spirit, while the most
famous of his contemporaries has given himself up to the pursuit of
abstractions, and has been swept along by a current of thought resulting
from the confluence of many streams. The intensely national character of
Björnson's manifold activity is well illustrated by a remark of Georg
Brandes, to the effect that mention of Björnson's name in the presence
of any gathering of Norwegians is like running up the national flag. And
it seems, on the whole, that the sum total of his literary achievement
must be reckoned the greatest to be set down to the credit of any one
Norwegian since Norway began to develop a literature of her own. Far
nobler and finer than that of either Wergeland or Welhaven, the two most
conspicuous of his predecessors, this achievement is challenged by that
of Ibsen alone, and even then in but a single aspect. It is only as
dramatists that suspense of judgment between the two men is for a moment
admissible; as a poet the superiority of Björnson is unquestionable,
while his rank as the greatest of Norwegian novelists is altogether
beyond dispute.

[Illustration: BJÖRNSON]

The chief facts of Björnson's life may be briefly set forth. The son of
a parish priest, he was born December 8th, 1832, at Kvikne. When the boy
was six years of age, his family removed to the Romsdal, and a few years
later Björnstjerne was sent to school at Molde. His childhood was thus
passed in the midst of the noblest scenery of Norway, and in regions of
the richest legendary association. The austere sublimity of the
Jötunheim--the home of the frost-giants--first impressed his childish
sensibilities, but was soon exchanged for the more varied and
picturesque but hardly less magnificent scenery of the western fjords.