4 Ellen Key place as an author "in direct descending (intellectual) line from her." The above mentioned hypothesis may not be altogether unreasonable, at least in cases where the memory of the departed husband is kept alive in the heart of the bereft wife, even though she contracts a new marriage for some reason or other. Be this as it may, Oscar Levertin has rightly observed the similarity between these two writers, which shows it- self in many ways. In the essay just referred to he says: " Fru N. is the portal-figure of the new age in our literary history. . . . She is gripped by a revolution of both heart and mind. . . . She had such an exalted opinion of her literary profession that she even dared to strike for the spiritual freedom of her fellow-women and their equality with man, as the first great woman's rights* champion in the country. . . . She had an amazon's fear- less courage and holy love of battle. Un- afraid, with an honesty which knew of no reserve, she fought for her opinions all her life. ..." These characterisations would fit Ellen Key with slight paraphrase, unnecessary for those who peruse this biography. In their private lives, on the other hand, there is no further