Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/387

Rh to the development of Swedish poetry. But of all the greater importance were his polemical works, a part of which he published in 1791 under the title: "Kritik öfver Kritiker med utkast till en lagstiftning i snillets verld." Yet this restless purist, seething and boiling over like a volcano, enthusiastic for all that was noble and good and full of bitter hate against all that was low and common-place, did not confine himself to the department of literature, but attempted to break new ground in various other fields. He declared himself that "his whole life was consecrated to the one supreme idea, that of revealing nature and reforming the whole world." Being convinced that this was not practical in Sweden, he went to England, in 1788, in order to make that country his basis for making humanity noble and perfect. But he found it no less difficult abroad than it had been at home to gather round him a circle of "free men," and so he returned to Sweden in 1790, where he published a series of political works written in a very aggressive spirit. The government of the regency during the minority of Gustav IV became greatly concerned in regard to his diffusion of French revolutionary ideas in one of these works, entitled "Ärligheten" (Honesty), and banished him from the country for four years. He now went to Germany, where he undertook to reform philosophy. Through the publication of several German works he became acquainted with Germany's foremost writers, but here, too, he was unable to solve the problem which he had proposed to himself. On the expiration of two years his sentence of banishment was revoked. He obtained an appointment as professor and librarian in Greifswald, where he spent the last fourteen years of his life, chiefly occupied with scientific investigations.

Anna Maria Lenngren (born Malmstedt, 1754-1817) is one of the most interesting figures that adorn this motley period of Swedish literature. Her father, who was a professor in Upsala, gave her an education which seemed to sug-