poems and tales to an equal extent) had made him popular and
honoured among his own people, Bjornson settled at Aulestad,
which remained his home for the rest of his life. He also became
a doughty controversialist in social and religious matters, and
the first outcome of this phase was his play Leonarda (the second
in this volume), which was first performed in 1879, to be
followed by Det ny System (The New System) later in the same
year. These works aroused keen controversy, but were not such
popular stage successes as his earlier plays. Moreover, about
this time, on his return from a visit to America, he plunged into
the vortex of political controversy as an aggressive radical. He
was a vigorous and very persuasive orator; and in that capacity,
as well as in that of writer of political articles and essays,
was an uncompromising foe to the opportunist theories which he
held to be degrading the public life of his country. The
opposition he aroused by his fearless championship of whatever he
considered a rightful cause was so bitter that he was eventually
obliged to retire from Norway for two or three years. So much did
this temporarily affect his literary reputation at home, that
when, in 1883, he had written En Hanske (A Gauntlet--the third
play here translated) he found at first considerable difficulty
in getting it performed. Later, however, he became a political
hero to a large section of his compatriots, and by degrees won
back fully the place he had occupied in their hearts. He
enthusiastically espoused the cause of the projected separation
from Sweden, though when that matter came to a crisis he
exercised an invaluable influence on the side of moderation.

For the remainder of his life he continued to be prolific in
literary production, with an ever increasing renown amongst