verse, but Foersom's _Macbeth_ is not Shakespeare's. Accordingly, it is,
in a sense, true that Hauge in 1855 did give the Dano-Norwegian public
their first taste of an unspoiled _Macbeth_ in the vernacular.[12]

[11. _Illustreret Nyhedsblad_--1865, p. 96.]

[12. _Macbeth--Tragedie i fem Akter af William Shakespeare_.
Oversat og fortolket af N. Hauge. Christiania. 1855. Johan Dahl.]

Hauge tells us that he had interested himself in English literature at
the risk of being called an eccentric. Modern languages then offered no
avenue to preferment, and why, forsooth, did men attend lectures and
take examinations except to gain the means of earning a livelihood? He
justifies his interest, however, by the seriousness and industry with
which Shakespeare is studied in Germany and England. With the founts of
this study he is apparently familiar, and with the influence of
Shakespeare on Lessing, Goethe, and the lesser romanticists. It is
interesting to note, too, that two scholars, well known in widely
different fields, Monrad, the philosopher--for some years a sort of Dr.
Johnson in the literary circles of Christiania--and Unger, the scholarly
editor of many Old Norse texts, assisted him in his work.

The character of Hauge's work is best seen in his notes. They consist of
a careful defense of every liberty he takes with the text, explanations
of grammatical constructions, and interpretations of debated matters.
For example, he defends the witches on the ground that they symbolize
the power of evil in the human soul.

Man kan sige at Shakespeare i dem og deres Slæng har givet de
nytestamentlige Dæmoner Kjød og Blod.