Page:Stories Translated from the German.djvu/222

 refuse to acknowledge themselves to possess any weak point, but they will not even show it, they will never retract any assertion, and thus in company we find a kind of political or philosophical breviary offered in prayer, whence, after a certain number of Aves, an authenticated Credo follows, and so on.

"Only," said Mr. Balthasar, "this fire of enthusiasm carries the Danes sometimes so far (I mean some) that they likewise will take no notice of other people's observations, and refuse to listen and to comprehend the speaker, but they chiefly overstep all bounds in their otherwise noble patriotism, in such a manner, that the German, who, according to rule, is too little of a patriot, cannot find or overtake them again for a long time."

Such a young Dane, who was also reckoned a poet, and who chiefly aimed at imitating Oehlenschläger, came the next evening to Balthasar, and related to him the scene which he had witnessed the night before at the house of the ambassador. Balthasar was astounded at the circumstance, which rendered the Germans ridiculous, although it supplied him with materials for his chronicle.

"Inconceivable!" continually exclaimed the