It is a delight to read them. The passage of Scripture often
occurs to me when I take up these earlier works of Brandes: "He
rejoiceth like a strong man to run a race." He handles language with the
zest and vigor of conscious mastery. There is no shade of meaning which
is so subtle as to elude his grip. Things which I should have said, _a
priori_, were impossible to express in Danish he expresses with scarcely
a sign of effort; and however new and surprising his phrase is, it is
never awkward, never cumbrous, never apparently conscious of its
brilliancy.
I do not mean to say that these linguistic excellences are
characteristic only of Dr. Brandes's earlier works; but, either because
he has accustomed us to expect much of him in this respect, or because
he has come to regard such brilliancy as of minor consequence, it is a
fact that two of his latest hooks ("Impressions of Poland" and
"Impressions of Russia") contain fewer memorable phrases, fewer winged
words, fewer _mots_ with a flavor of Gallic wit.
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