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AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 113
I had of late read, and was still reading, several good
books, which in some measure reconciled me to my suffer-
ings on earth, by showing me their unavoidableness and
their aim. Herder’s “Ideen”? made a deep and soothing
impression upon me. When I came to town with my im-
proved complexion and my calmer soul, I found, as a vis-
itor in my parents’ house, a distant relative, with arms and
crest on his seal, with a major’s title, and an estate in the
country. Honest soul! I listened patiently to his La-
ponic French; played to him, “ Welcome, O moon, my
ancient friend ;” and got from him an offer of his heart
and hand, his crest, and his estate in the country. My
family agreed perfectly with me in giving him a friendly
refusal.
I made also the acquaintance of another gentleman, who
inspired me with a pure and warm feeling, which, although
it was never responded to, yet had a powerful influence
upon my development, and which still lives silently and
ennobling in my heart. .
During the summer of 1829, I wrote, encouraged by an
occasional eulogy on my little book, the second volume of
my “ Sketches.”
The better feelings which I had experienced, I ex-
pressed to a certain extent in “The Solitary One,” and in
“The Consoler.” That kind of humor which is found in
“The H Family” was, until then, entirely unknown
to me, and the discovery of it in me was quite unexpected.
It was first shown in a small sketch written during the
previous winter, “ Christmas in Sweden.”
The following winter my father’s long and last illness
began. Towards the spring, I offered to H , the
printer in Stockholm, my manuscript of the second volume
of my “Sketches.” He was at first willing to receive it;
but, after having had it some time for perusal, he refused
to print it or to pay any thing for it. Then my opinion of
1 Herder’s Jdéen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit.
8
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