Again, _Torvald Helmer_
has a long monologue in the final Act that a practised playwright
would have "broken up" with the assistance of a portrait, or a letter,
or something. From this it would appear that the Editor, WILLIAM
ARCHER (without the "Mr.") has very faithfully produced the exact
translation of the original. To be hypercritical, I might suggest
that perhaps occasionally the version is rather _too_ literal. For
instance, _Torvald Helmer_, although he is cursed with one of the most
offensive wives known to creation, would scarcely call her "a little
lark," which conveys the impression that he is a "gay dog," and
one given to the traditional ways of that species of ultra-sociable
animals. I have confessed I have not the original before me, so I
cannot say whether the title used by IBSEN is "_Smalle Larke_," but
I fancy that a "capering capercailzie," if not actually his _words_,
would be nearer his _meaning_. A capercailzie is, according to the
dictionaries, a bird of "a delicious flavour" and partially "green;"
it is also found in Norway "very fine and large," as IBSEN might say.
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