Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 4).djvu/170

 ON
 * You are Norwegian?

PEER
 * Yes, by birth;
 * but cosmopolitan in spirit.
 * For fortune such as I've enjoyed
 * I have to thank America.
 * My amply-furnished library
 * I owe to Germany's later schools.
 * From France, again, I get my waistcoats,
 * my manners, and my spice of wit,-
 * from England an industrious hand,
 * and keen sense for my own advantage.
 * The Jew has taught me how to wait.
 * Some taste for dolce far niente
 * I have received from Italy,-
 * and one time, in a perilous pass,
 * to eke the measure of my days,
 * I had recourse to Swedish steel.

TRUMPETERSTRALE [lifting up his glass].
 * Ay, Swedish steel-?

VON EBERKOPF
 * The weapon's wielder
 * demands our homage first of all!

[They clink glasses and drink with him. The wine begins to go to his head.] MR. COTTON
 * All this is very good indeed;-
 * but, sir, I'm curious to know
 * what with your gold. you think of doing.

PEER [smiling]