His foreign sojourn was, however, of
some benefit in widening his mental horizon. Tegner's intellectual
affinities had always been French; and toward Germany he had assumed a
more or less unsympathetic attitude. A slight acquaintance with the
philosopher Schleiermacher and the Germanized Norwegian author Henrik
Steffens (who was then a professor at the University of Berlin) did not,
indeed, reverse his predilections, but it opened his eyes to
excellences in the German people to which he had formerly been blind,
and removed prejudices which had obscured his vision. He had everywhere
the most distinguished reception, and was honored with an invitation to
Sans Souci, where he was the guest of the witty Crown Prince of Prussia,
later Frederick William IV. But these agreeable incidents of his journey
were a poor compensation for his failure to obtain that which he had
gone in search of. Fame, honor, and distinguished friends, without
health, are but a Tantalus feast, the sweets of which are seen but never
tasted.
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