more and more extensive, and the last two acts have been
augmented with 100 lines.' ... Not infrequently there appear
words and expressions which are suggestive of Ibsen's later
works."

These plays now appear for the first time in English translation.
A. Johnstone published in _Translations from the Norse, by a
B. S. S._ (Gloucester, about 1876), an English rendering of
the first act of _Catiline_ and a synopsis of the last two
acts. William Archer explains at length his omission of
_Catiline_ from his edition of Ibsen. "A great part of the
interest lies in the very crudities of its style, which it would
be a thankless task to reproduce in translation. Moreover, the
poet impaired even its biographical value by largely rewriting it
before publication. He did not make it, or attempt to make it, a
better play, but he in some measure corrected its juvenility of
expression. Which version, then, should a translator choose? To
go back to the original would seem a deliberate disregard of the
poet's wishes; while, on the other hand, the retouched version is
clearly of far inferior interest. It seems advisable, therefore,
to leave the play alone, as far as this edition is concerned."
_Olaf Liljekrans_ and _The Warrior's Barrow_ were acted
in English in London in 1911 and 1912 respectively, but the
English renderings used in these presentations have never
appeared in print.

The text of _Catiline_ in the present translation is that of
the revised version as given in the edition of 1906-07; the text
of the other two plays is that of the edition of 1898-1902. The
meters of the original have been carefully reproduced. The great