The didactic character of much of the novel, especially of the later parts, was a surprise to contemporary readers, who were accustomed to much lighter fare from the novelists of the day. No less a personage than the great Danish writer, J. P. Jacobsen, joined in the outcry against "all this pedagogy and all these problems." Physiological instruction in girls' schools,--this seemed a strange and almost unseemly subject for a romance addressed to idle readers in Copenhagen and Christiania. But Björnson's serious purpose was soon perceived and justified, and the popularity of The Heritage of the Kurts was assured among the best appreciators of his genius. It will always, however, possess the disadvantages inherent on a tentative effort in a class of literature as yet unfamiliar to the veteran artist. Translator, editor, and publisher of the English version alike desire to express their debt to Mr. C. F. Keary, whose knowledge of Norwegian matters is so widely recognised, for the help he has given in revising the translation throughout, and in particular for his advice in regard to the diction of the first section of the novel, which, in the original, is an extremely clever _pastiche_ of early eighteenth-century Danish. E. G. CONTENTS I.--_FROM AN OLD MANUSCRIPT_ CHAP I. "THE ESTATE" AND THOSE WHO LIVED THERE II. WHAT FURTHER CAME TO PASS II.--_JOHN KURT_ I. LONELINESS II. A GENIUS III. MAN'S BREAST IS LIKE THE OCEAN IV. SAILS IN SIGHT V. HOME LIFE VI. FIRST RESULTS, AND THOSE THAT FOLLOWED III.--_A LECTURE_ I. DETHRONED II. ON THE MOUNTAIN III. THE CHILD IV. THE LAST YEARS IN THE GARDEN V. THE LECTURE IV.--_THE STAFF_ I. A GREAT LECTURE AND A LITTLE TOWN I FROM AN OLD MANUSCRIPT CHAPTER I "THE ESTATE" AND THOSE WHO LIVED THERE "The Estate" had probably been acquired by the strong hand, as indeed most domains have been in all countries and at all times; but what proportion forced marriages and fair bargains bore to actual guile, fraud, and such base means, we can no longer determine.