Baggesen, thus endowed with the power by his country, set out on a journey destined to have the most decided influence on his fortunes, in which he made the acquaintance of the most celebrated men of Germany, and of the charming woman who became his wife. His narrative of these travels, styled by him, "Labyrinthen," the Labyrinth, is one of the most witty, delightful and characteristic of his works. It presents us some of the finest impressions of some of the noblest scenery of Europe that we know of, and some of the most graphic portraits of its celebrated men that we possess. We shall therefore take several specimens of our author's prose from this work. The scene with which it opens is an excellent example of his humour, and of his faculty of working up the most common occurrences into matter irresistibly amusing.

THE PASSPORT.

The packet-boat was to sail at nine. All my luggage was already on board. The company with which I was going to travel held itself in readiness in the immediate vicinity of the custom-house, to go on board at a hint from the captain. It was announced to me that it was past eight-all haste was necessary. "Give me your passport," said Professor Cramer," and I will see that it is ready before hand." "Passport!" said I; "I have never dreamt of a passport. Is a passport necessary to get away alive from Copenhagen ?" necessary as a balloon to get away alive from the earth." "You had better have forgotten anything else!" said another. "You might as well have forgotten yourself!" added a third.

"As

Here was good counsel precious! They don't issue

passports on a Sunday. Luckily, a person in the house where I lodged was an alderman.

"Mr. Alderman, I have taken the liberty to call you up, to give me advice in my perplexity. I must go off with the packet-boat this moment, and I have no passport!"

"You must go to the landlord, get a receipt in full of all demands, and go with that to Alderman L—,” answered the Alderman.

I darted down the steps, and did not stop my running till, in the middle of the Östergade, a terrible idea seized me. It is nearly nine! At nine the captain sets sail! My little trunk with all my necessaries is in the ship! All that I now possessed besides in the world, from Baile's Lexicon, to the odd silver sleeve-button, which constitutes my whole patrimonial inheritance, is shut up in Mrs. B's well locked room! My health, my spirits, and my own future welfare depend on this journey! My lodging in Copenhagen is let! My very manuscripts are in the trunk! All these representations gave me a most terrible ague fit.-Thou hast no passport!

One does not get along in this world by standing still and pondering. The spot where I was, was exactly in front of a perfumer's shop. It occurred to me that Mrs. B, some days before I had thought of travelling away, had requested me to purchase her a couple of bottles of bergamotte. "Nothing," thought I, "is more imperative than to hasten thee, get thy passport, and come back in time. Here is the extremest periculum in mora;" and went into the shop to get a couple of bottles. As I had no small money, I was obliged to change a note. While I waited for the change, which came slowly, it ran in my head that my fellow-travellers, in the hurry of

packing, had most likely forgotten to take some perfumes, which are highly requisite on board for the ladies. The air is warm, the cabin is small; we are ten persons in it; in short, something fragrant will be very necessary. I could not do otherwise than compliment myself on my thoughtfulness on this occasion; and gave myself much trouble to select the most excellent kind, to choose the strongest. I got at length a bottle which seemed to me the most suitable, paid, and again stood with my three bottles in the street.

my

Like a flash of lightning, the thought went through head that I was on my way to my host, and to Alderman L- -; that the time I had over was nearly expired; and that it was more properly a passport that I wanted, than perfume. With this my feet took suddenly wings, I flew, rather than went; but in my haste, the three bottles knocked together in my pocket: in order not to break them by my rapid motion, I was obliged to go carefully and slow; and in this way I came at length to my host.

was

He wrote me a quittance, and in the mean time I took at my leisure the two bottles to Mrs. B- -I then took foot in hand, and more rapidly than before, having got rid of the two bottles, and came out of breath to Alderman L- -'s gate. I rang. There came, after some time, a maid, and undid the gate. Alderman L not yet up. "Then," said I, "I will see him in bed." "I will tell his servant," said she. The servant came. "The Alderman is really not up." "Never mind that— I must speak with him." "Yes, I will tell him." The servant went, and returned. "The Alderman is at this moment being shaved." "I will speak with him unshaved." The servant went, and came again. worship is just soaped." "The deuce take the Alder

"His

man !” I exclaimed, and paced to and fro distractedly in the hall. "An alderman ought never to be shaved! an alderman ought never to have a smooth chin! Abominable abuse! Confounded abandonment of the good, old, venerable, and, for all travellers, convenient custom, of aldermen having long beards, and by no soap detaining those that have business with them!"

"It is nine!" said the clock, striking. I stood before it, and watched every movement of the second finger. Never did a clock seem to me to have so detestable a face; every tick seemed a laugh, every strike a reproof. I could have struck it in the face with my fist. I turned me round again, wrung my hands, bit my lips, opened the door, shut it again, stamped with my feet, and the merciless clock kept up an incessant laughter at my anxiety with its eternal click clack.

At length forth came the smooth-shaven Alderman, as smooth about the gills as a new-born babe. I explained to him, allegro prestissimo, my perplexity; he answered me that I should have done well to have thought of it the day before; that on a Sunday no passports were issued ; and added, with the most cool adagio, that, moreover, he had nothing whatever to do with them. I brought him however, by the earnestness of my remonstrances, so far, that he passed over to andante, and informed me that the passport-clerk, L——, only could get me out of my fix ; that he lived in Viingaardströde, where the Harmonic Society harmonized; and assured me, in the most polite manner in the world, of his sympathy.

Viingaardströde lies, as all the world knows, as far from Alderman L- 's house as Asia from Europe by the Dardanelles. As I was come half way, I had nothing for it but to jump into a hired carriage. I arrived, went in through one door, through another, through a third,

finally, in a backyard, I found a creature in a woman's dress, who informed me that the passport-writer no longer lived there, but had removed to Compagnieströde some days ago. "And thus has the whole passportoffice conspired for thy destruction!" I exclaimed, and rushed down into Viingaardströde to get another carriage, in which I seated myself and drove off. When I was getting out again at Compagnieströde, I recollected first that I did not know the number of the house, and might thus go from house to house the whole day before I found the passport-office. I actually began my Herculean labour-nobody knew where it was; I ran on, and a hairdresser at last took me to a house which he supposed was it. True enough, a lieutenant had lived there, but was gone to Norway. Tired and out of spirits, I came now to a public-house, where they told me that the passport-clerk lived sure enough in the street, but that he and his whole family had driven out into the country early in the morning.

I had now given up almost all hope. The hour was passed, and I felt persuaded that the captain must have left the quay. "Hold!" I said to a public carriage driving past, "drive me a stage." "I am engaged,' said the man, "to fetch Miss Winter," and looked round. "See! there goes Count O- to church.". "Who? What ?"—" The man there in the grey coat. Yes, on my life it is Count O- ; yes;" crack! crack! and he

drove on.

I am not one of those prodigy-mongers "whom our Lord has taught me to fight shy of," according to the expression of St. Augustine, who find a miracle in everything, the cause of which does not lie before their nose, and pester Heaven to untie every knot, even a knot in heir garter; but I cannot deny that this à-propos