[25] _Some Eighteenth Century Byways and Other Essays_ by John Buchan, Edinburgh and London, 1908, William Blackwood & Sons. [26] _History of Rome_ by Theodor Mommsen, translated by William P. Dickson, New York, 1908, Vol. II, pp. 244, 245. By permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons. [27] By permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons. [28] Inscription with the Nobel Prize Award in Literature, 1908. [29] _Rudolf Eucken: His Life, Work and Travels_ by himself, translated by Joseph McCabe, New York, 1922. By permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons. [30] For further titles, see bibliography and list of translators. [31] _Rudolf Eucken: His Life, Work and Travels_ by himself, translated by Joseph McCabe, New York, 1922, p. 162. By permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons. [32] _Ibid._, p. 167. [33] _Eucken and Bergson: Their Significance for Christian Thought_, by E. Hermann, Boston, 1912, p. 87. By permission of The Pilgrim Press. CHAPTER IV BJÖRNSON: NORWEGIAN NOVELIST AND PLAYWRIGHT The prize of 1903 has been awarded: Björnson, Björnstjerne, born 1832, died April 26, 1910: “as a tribute acknowledging his noble, splendid and varied works of art which have always been distinguished by freshness of inspiration, and, at the same time, by unusual purity of soul.”[34] One of the five members elected by the Norwegian Storthing, to select the winners of the prize for the promotion of peace, under terms of Nobel’s will, was Björnstjerne Björnson. It was a fitting choice for he was a vigorous advocate of world peace, an ardent worker in all causes for “the benefit of mankind.” When the award in literature for 1903 was given to him, he was already known as “Norway’s Father.” As writer of novels and plays, he had been read more widely than almost any other Scandinavian of his day, at that time surpassing Ibsen in translated works. As publicist and orator, as manager of theatres and civic legislator, he exerted national influence. In giving him the Nobel prize the adjudicators had in memory, especially, his earlier tales of peasant life which intermingled poetic idealism with sagas and realistic pictures of Norwegian life. His plays of later years, _Beyond Human Power_, _The Editor_, and _Sigurd Slembe_, were problem plays that awakened discussion in many countries; they were more universal and realistic in tone than the earlier fiction. Björnson had a remarkable combination of virility and gentleness. He was a Viking clansman, as he often averred, but he was also a poet, loving the folk songs and pictorial delights of rugged Norway with deep, ardent affection. The symbol of his strength, represented twice in the lingual root of his name--Björn, a bear--was fitting for his large, fearless mind and spiritual energy. He was a warrior when occasion demanded resistance to evil; he was a skald when he wrote tales of peasantry. [Illustration: _By courtesy of The American-Scandinavian Foundation_ BJÖRNSTJERNE BJÖRNSON]