HEINRICH HEINE - Repositories

Martyr of Montmartre
The first meeting between Heine and the Englishman
took place in the reading room of Galignani
at Paris, where Heine often went in order to
look through the latest journals from the various
European centers. Theodore Morawski, an exiled
Polish patriot, introduced the two to each other.
Heine's sardonic smile and penetrating glance were
fixed upon the stranger, who described the encounter
as follows: "The little man surveyed me,
looked at my frame, my head, my arms, and then
into my eyes. It was a survey which occupied some
two or three minutes — most minute, certainly,
but by no means agreeable. He did not rise from
his chair, nor did he take off his hat, but smiled
most satirically, and then recommenced turning
over the leaves of the Austrian Observer and of
the Augsburg Gazette. I had known all about him
before that period; but I had not before been introduced
to him. Morawski made a signal to walk in
the garden, and Heine came rolling after us. His
hands were in his pockets as if searching for coin;
his shoulders were raised so high that his head
seemed buried between them, his under lip had
dropped most sardonically, and his smile indicated
that he had something very wicked or very
witty to utter — perhaps both." The conversa-
[37]