he at the same time acquired a knowledge of English and read principally
the poems of Ossian, which greatly delighted him.

The following year the elder brother accepted a more profitable position
as tutor in the family of the great iron manufacturer Myhrman at Rämen in
Värmland and thither Esaias accompanied him. Here he could drink deep
from the fountain of knowledge for at Rämen he found a fine library of
French, Latin and Greek classics. He worked prodigiously and this,
coupled with a remarkably retentive memory, enabled him to make
remarkably rapid progress in his studies. He would have remained in the
library all the time poring over his dear classic authors but for the
fortunate intervention of the young members of the Myhrman family, seven
in all, who frequently would storm into his room and carry him off by
sheer force to their boisterous frolics. To one of these playmates, Anna
Myhrman, the youngest daughter of the family, he soon became attached by
the tender ties of love.

In 1799 Tegnér was enabled, through the generosity of Branting and
Myhrman, to repair to Lund and enter the university of that place. Here
he made a brilliant record as a student, particularly in the classics,
and after three years he was awarded the master's degree. In recognition
of his remarkable scholarship he was soon after made instructor in
aesthetics, secretary to the faculty of philosophy and assistant
librarian. In 1806 he claimed Anna Myhrman as his bride.

We have the testimony of Tegnér himself that already as a child he began
to write poetry, in fact these efforts began so early in his life that he
could not remember when he for the first time exercised the power that
later was to win him an abiding fame. As early as his clerkship days in
the office of Branting he wrote a poem in Alexandrine verse with the