the sentimental "dreamery" begotten of his Gossensass experiences.
He sought refuge in the chill materialism of Hedda from the ardent
transcendentalism of Hilda, whom he already heard knocking at the
door. He was not yet in the mood to deal with her on the plane of
poetry.(3)

_Hedda Gabler_ was published in Copenhagen on December 16, 1890.
This was the first of Ibsen's plays to be translated from proof-
sheets and published in England and America almost simultaneously
with its first appearance in Scandinavia. The earliest theatrical
performance took place at the Residenz Theater, Munich, on the last
day of January 1891, in the presence of the poet, Frau Conrad-Ramlo
playing the title-part. The Lessing Theater, Berlin, followed suit
on February 10. Not till February 25 was the play seen in Copenhagen,
with Fru Hennings as Hedda. On the following night it was given for
the first time in Christiania, the Norwegian Hedda being Froken
Constance Bruun. It was this production which the poet saw when he
visited the Christiania Theater for the first time after his return
to Norway, August 28, 1891. It would take pages to give even the
baldest list of the productions and revivals of _Hedda Gabler_ in
Scandinavia and Germany, where it has always ranked among Ibsen's
most popular works. The admirable production of the play by Miss
Elizabeth Robins and Miss Marion Lea, at the Vaudeville Theatre,
London, April 20, 1891, may rank as the second great step towards the
popularisation of Ibsen in England, the first being the Charrington-
Achurch production of _A Doll's House_ in 1889. Miss Robins
afterwards repeated her fine performance of Hedda many times, in
London, in the English provinces, and in New York. The character has
also been acted in London by Eleonora Duse, and as I write (March, 5,
1907) by Mrs. Patrick Campbell, at the Court Theatre. In Australia