a three-act comedy, _Den Misundelige_ (The Envious Man), which was published in Copenhagen in 1804. Here also he conceived the plan of his later dramatic works, designed to set forth momentous epochs in Swedish history. “Eylif the Goth,” printed in Stockholm in 1814, was written at this period, and reveals his desire to revive in the rising generation the old Norse vigor. Perhaps it was the opportunity afforded for practice in a foreign language that first attracted Ling to the fencing school in Copenhagen conducted by two French _émigrés_, Beuernier and the Chevalier de Montrichard. For three years he continued to frequent the place, and made such progress that Montrichard gave him a paper which certified to his great skill with the foil and his ability to give instruction in the art. There is a story that Ling had suffered from gout in the arm, as one result of the privations to which he was constantly subjected, and finding the case much relieved by his fencing, was thus led to study the effects of exercise in general. At any rate, he visited the private gymnasium which Nachtegall had started in Copenhagen in the fall of 1799 (see page 179). GutsMuths’s “Gymnastics for the Young” appeared in 1793 and Hjort’s translation into Danish six years later, and two volumes of Vieth’s “Encyclopedia of Bodily Exercises” were published at this time; but how much Ling was indebted to these German sources for inspiration and suggestion is purely a matter of conjecture.[115] In the fall of 1804 he returned to Sweden, to act as substitute for the aged fencing-master at the University of Lund. The latter died shortly after his arrival, and Ling, who had applied for the position December 8, was appointed his successor, at a small salary. Writing to a Copenhagen friend December 28th he says that the fencing-master at a Swedish university must be able to give instruction in vaulting the horse, and he wishes therefore to have a good vaulting buck sent him. A riding-school, also, is about to be opened, and his assistance is wanted there. Though he has almost entirely lost his skill in that art he is confident that practice will to some extent restore it. At that time gymnastics proper was unknown in Sweden, but Ling soon arranged apparatus for general exercise, and some years later, when a new university building had been completed, he was allowed to use an older one for this purpose and as a fencing hall.[116] In 1806 he began to apply himself to the study of anatomy and physiology. A year later he had worked out a system of bayonet fencing and was practising it with his pupils. He seems to have won the respect and esteem of teachers and students alike. The new exercises became very popular, and it was not long before interest in his fencing method, a simplification of the French, and in his gymnastics as well, spread beyond the bounds of Lund. Invitations to introduce the double art were received from Gothenburg, Malmö, and Christianstad, and