,,ludvig ,,holberg    ,,the ,,founder   
,,of ,,norwegian ,,literature   ,,and   
,,an ,,oxford ,,student    ,,by    ,s4  
,c4 ,,hammer1 ,m4,a4     ,,oxford   ,b4 
,h4 ,,blackwell1 ,,broad ,,street       
,,mcmxx    ,price ,two ,shillings net   
,,ludvig ,,holberg    ,,the ,,founder   
,,of ,,norwegian ,,literature   ,,and   
,,an ,,oxford ,,student    ,,by    ,s4  
,c4 ,,hammer1 ,m4,a4     ,,oxford       
,b4,h4 ,,blackwell1 ,,broad ,,street    
,,mcmxx       ,illustration3 ,,ludvig   
,,holberg     ,,introductory ,,note     
,the following lecture was delivered on 
,may #bcrd1 #aiai1 at ,magdalen         
,college1 ,oxford1 by invitation of the 
,president1 ,sir ,herbert ,warren1 and  
in the presence1 among others1 of the   
,norwegian ,minister in ,london1 ,mr4   
,benjamin ,vogt4  ,in revising the      
manuscript ,i have thought it necessary 
to enlarge it on a few points where ,i  
had to condense the lecture in order to 
keep it within the confines of an hour4 
,i have also added a few supplementary  

footnotes and a brief reference to the  
bulky ,holberg literature which may     
perhaps prove of interest to ,holberg   
students in ,england4  ,in paying my    
respectful thanks to the ,president of  
,magdalen ,college and the distinguished
 audience for their kind reception ,i   
beg to sum up my feelings in the words  
of ,holberg himself3 ,multis sane       
nominibus devinctum ,oxoniensibus me    
fateor teneri4                          
,s4 ,c4 ,h4  ,,christiania1 ,,norway4   
,december1 #aiai4     ,,ludvig ,,holberg
   ,,mr4 ,,president1    ,,your         
,,excellency1      ,,ladies ,,and       
,,gentlemen1   ,i4  ,i propose to speak 
to you about my countryman1 ,ludvig     
,holberg1 the most famous ,norwegian    
student whose name was ever entered on  
the records of this ,university4 ,if    
this had not been the case1 ,i should   
hardly have ventured to ascend this     
platform1 for ,i feel that here1 if     
anywhere1 it must be an indispensable   
condition that the subject should match 

the place4 ,for just as ,oxford is not  
primarily an institution of education1  
but through its traditions1 its         
companionships1 its achievements1 the   
very embodiment of ,british genius1     
,british chivalry and ,british          
aspirations1 so ,ludvig ,holberg is1    
indeed1 no author in the ordinary sense 
of the word4 ,he is the founder of      
modern ,norwegian and ,danish           
literature1 the greatest playwright1 the
 first critical historian1 the most     
human and most broad-minded moralist and
 philosopher of two nations2 a man whose
 constant work was one of educating2 who
 revolutionised the conception of life  
in two kingdoms and paved the way for   
the intellectual and political liberty  
of the future4 ,for all this1 as ,i am  
going to show you1 he is1 next to his   
genius1 highly indebted to ,england and1
 above all1 to ,oxford4 ,to this place  
he made his way when he quitted ,norway 
#bac years ago1 imbued with a deep and  
early sympathy for ,england2 from this  

place he went to ,copenhagen1 the joint 
capital at that time of ,denmark and    
,norway1 enriched by assets of the      
highest importance to his life-work4 ,i1
 therefore1 want to thank you for the   
opportunity you have given me to pay a  
joint tribute to ,oxford and ,holberg4  
,ludvig ,holberg--,ludovicus            
,holbergius1 ,norvegus1 as he signed his
 name in the ,admission ,index of the   
,bodleian ,library--was born at ,bergen1
 the present capital of ,western        
,norway1 on ,december #crd1 #afhd4 ,his 
father1 who was a well-known officer in 
the ,norwegian army1 died when ,lewis   
was an infant2 his mother1 when he was  
#aj years old4 ,lewis who was the       
youngest of twelve brothers and sisters1
 six of whom attained their majority1   
therefore very early became acquainted  
with the sterner aspects of life and    
grew up a lonely boy1 deprived of the   
tender care of a parental home4 ,it was 
at that time the custom in ,norway to   
give pay to sons of officers and to     

initiate them at an early age in        
military tactics1 the salaries they got 
being used to defray the expenses of    
their education4 ,these petty officers  
were called corporals1 and ,lewis was   
now promptly appointed corporal in the  
,upland ,regiment1 far away from his    
native town1 in one of the midland      
districts4  ,this was a rather curious  
beginning for a man so decidedly        
anti-militarist as ,holberg was         
throughout his life4 ,in his            
autobiography1 published in ,latin in   
#agbg1a he makes fun of the episode1    
describing his transformation from a    
petty officer into a professor of       
philosophy as a sort of ,ovidian        
metamorphosis which might expose me to  
the risk of being sent back from my     
professorial chair to the camp1 if the  
authorities were disposed to question my
 qualifications4  ,notwithstanding this1
 his appointment as petty officer was to
 become of importance to him4 ,as soon  
as he got his commission he left ,bergen

 for the midland counties--a remarkable 
journey at that time1 by sea and land1  
through a great part of ,west and ,mid  
,norway--until he finally arrived at the
 ,fron ,vicarage1 one of the finest     
places in the valley of ,gudbrandsdalen 
and at present one of our most popular  
tourist districts4 ,the vicar of ,fron1 
who was his relation on his mother's    
side1 soon discovered his remarkable    
abilities1 his passion for literature1  
in which he had already made some       
trifling attempts1 and last but not     
least1 his gift for languages4  ,the two
 years which ,holberg subsequently spent
 at ,fron have1 until a quite recent    
date1 been practically unnoticed by     
,holberg students1 but it is easy to see
 that they form an interesting link in  
the chain of events connected with his  
life4 ,his schooldays at ,fron were not 
pleasant to him1 for the assistant      
master1 who had to take care of the     
boys1 was rather inferior as a teacher4 
,his ,latin was bad1 his views narrow   

and pedantic1 his chief instrument of   
instruction the birch1 of which he made 
assiduous application4 ,holberg1 who    
rather early reacted instinctively and  
strongly to all strokes of              
spontaneousness1 very soon conceived a  
deep dislike and contempt for these     
pedagogic methods1 and his power of     
reflection made its combinations and    
conclusions4 ,latin and pedantry became 
to a certain extent synonymous notions  
to him1 and it was to be one of his     
pleasures as a writer to record and hand
 over to derision the whole system of   
travestied learning which was one of the
 characteristic features of his age4    
,this was the negative aspect of his    
sojourn at the ,fron ,vicarage4 ,its    
positive aspect was the time he spent in
 the library of the vicarage1 where1    
among a number of ,greek and ,latin     
classics1 he also found several modern  
foreign books1 including some ,bibles in
 ,english and ,french1 an ,english and a
 ,french dictionary1 a ,french grammar1 

and an ,english reader1 with colloquial 
sentences--rather a curious collection  
of books for a ,norwegian inland county 
towards the end of the seventeenth      
century4 ,these books1 as far as we     
know1 were the first specimens of       
,english and ,french literature which he
 ever saw1 but he was fascinated by     
them4 ,they were to him messages from   
the great marvellous world hundreds of  
miles beyond the mountains by which he  
was surrounded4 ,do you wonder that he  
was longing and dreaming1 silent and    
solitary as he was by disposition8  ,but
 he was not dreaming only4 ,being a     
quick observer of things surrounding    
him1 we may infer that he was deeply    
impressed by the customs and manners of 
the peasants among whom he lived1 their 
cool1 unobtrusive way of behaving       
themselves1 their sound judgment1 their 
manual cleverness1 their traditions1    
songs and fairy tales1 and last but not 
least1 their dialect1 with its peculiar 
words and phrases1 so decidedly         

different from his own ,bergen tongue   
and way of speaking4 ,indeed1 numerous  
passages in his works are stamped by    
obvious reminiscences from his ,fron    
sojourn4  ,after an absence which1 in   
more respects than one1 ripened him     
above his age1 ,holberg1 in #afih1      
returned to ,bergen1 where he resumed   
his studies under conditions which did  
not please him at all4 ,during his      
absence the grammar school of the city  
had been subjected to a thorough reform 
by an able manager1 who was himself an  
ardent admirer of the classics4         
,accordingly1 ,latin more than ever     
became the chief subject of instruction1
 the command of the language being      
laboriously aimed at by means of        
disputations which were at once         
linguistic exercises and a medium of    
theological and metaphysical fencing4   
,holberg1 who always felt himself alien 
to subtleties of this kind1 was         
therefore quite agreeable when very soon
 after the heavy fire at ,bergen in     

#agjb1 which stands out as one of the   
most remarkable events in the annals of 
the city1 he was sent to the ,university
 of ,copenhagen1 where he passed his    
,b4,a4 examination4 ,he does not seem to
 have been favourably impressed in any  
particular degree either by the capital 
itself or by the conditions ruling at   
the ,university4 ,otherwise1 in his     
reminiscences he would hardly have      
passed by his life as a student in      
absolute silence2 on the other hand1    
,bergen1 as she presented herself to him
 towards the end of #agjb after he had  
been away for some seven or eight       
months1 was certainly no cheery place1  
being still under the gloom of the      
devastations of the fire4 ,he therefore 
quite naturally availed himself of the  
earliest opportunity of getting away4   
,the two following years of his life1   
but for a short stay at ,copenhagen1    
where he completed his theological      
studies and attained a high degree1 he  
spent chiefly in flogging his pupils and

 converting ,norwegian boors4 ,this is a
 humorous expression of his for the way 
in which he performed his duties as a   
tutor to the children of the vicar at   
,voss--now one of the best-known        
districts on the ,bergen-,christiania   
,railway--and occasionally replaced him 
in the pulpit4 ,by his own saying he    
succeeded decidedly better as a preacher
 than as a tutor which1 by the way1 does
 not say very much1 as he never excelled
 in either of these functions4 ,the     
chief interest connected with his stay  
at ,voss is the fact that it            
strengthened his early ,fron            
recollections of the peasants4  ,we are 
entitled to infer from his famous       
,description of ,bergen1 which appeared 
thirty-five years later1 that he has    
taken a special interest in ,voss1 and  
that he has studied the history and the 
topography of the district1 and we      
hardly jump at conclusions in assuming  
that his popularity with the peasants   
was due1 not to his sermons1 but to the 

straightforward1 unpretending way in    
which he approached them4 ,he carried   
with him from ,voss1 as he had carried  
with him from ,fron1 favourable         
impressions of the ,norwegian peasantry 
to the manly qualities of whom he often 
returns in his writings4  ,in #agjd     
,holberg set out on the first of the    
five famous journeys which he was to    
undertake to various parts of ,europe   
within the next twenty-two years4 ,i    
shall not spend many words on this      
particular journey beyond the fact that 
he visited ,west ,germany and ,holland1 
which at that time were under the spell 
of the operations on the ,western       
,front1 for1 as you remember1 we find   
ourselves at that time at the           
commencement of the ,spanish ,war of    
,succession4 ,it is sufficient to state 
that the journey lasted about a year1   
and that ,holberg1 in the meantime1 had 
many chequered experiences2 by way of   
example1 that it is impossible for a man
 with literary talents to get on at     

,amsterdam1 where1 to use his own       
expression1 trade occupies every man's  
thoughts1 where philosophy is at a      
discount1 and where even men like       
,grotius and ,salmasius have to give way
 to shipowners and merchants4 ,he       
therefore ultimately had to return to   
,norway1 arriving in an exhausted       
condition at ,christianssand1 where he  
was assisted by a friend1 ,mr4 ,brix1   
whom he happened to meet there4 ,this   
friend kindly recommended ,holberg to   
several of the principal inhabitants1   
and he very soon got a reputation as a  
teacher1 especially in ,french1         
although--as he learnt on a later       
occasion in ,paris--his ,french was not 
so perfect as the natives of            
,christianssand seemed to think4        
,unfortunately he very soon happened to 
raise the feminine world of the town    
against himself4 ,full of irony as he   
was1 and delighted with everything which
 had an air of novelty--as he describes 
himself--he was greatly amused one day  

by coming across an anonymous pamphlet  
in which the author endeavoured to      
prove1 by sixty-four arguments1 that    
women have no soul4 ,he promptly learned
 the chief arguments by heart1 and took 
every opportunity of broaching the      
paradox and of defending it with an     
earnestness proportioned to the zeal or 
indignation with which it was opposed4  
,finally1 of course1 he had to submit   
and to renounce his heresy1 after which 
peace was restored4 ,holberg1 who was   
very musical1 and played excellently on 
the flute1 was subsequently introduced  
to some of the most respected families  
in the town1 where he seems to have been
 very much appreciated4 ,it will always 
be a matter of conjecture whether he    
contracted at ,christianssand1 however  
temporarily1 what has been styled a     
heart rheumatism2 but if so1 the ladies 
of ,christianssand have had their       
revenge2 their descendants may still be 
proud of the tribute which ,holberg in  
his auto-biography pays to the          

accomplishments of their great-great    
grandmothers4  ,in the spring of #agjf  
,holberg left ,christianssand1 embarking
 for ,england at ,arendal1 the          
well-known neighbouring town1           
conspicuous even in those days for its  
sea-faring reputation4 ,i may1 perhaps1 
in this connection1 take leave to       
observe that ,i am a native of that     
town1 and often1 when a boy1 sailing out
 in my boat to the mouth of the harbour1
 where it opens towards the horizon far 
away1 or resting on one of the many     
islets during the wonderful nights of   
the ,norwegian summer1 waiting for the  
early fishing hours at sunrise1 ,i would
 remind myself that these rocks and     
skerries outside of my native town were 
the last part of ,norway on which       
,holberg looked back when1 under the    
press of a fair wind1 his swift barque  
carried him away to ,england1 the       
fairyland of his westward dreams4       
,adieu1 adieu6 my native shore          
,fades o'er the water blue2   ,the      

night-winds sigh1 the breakers roar1    
,and shrieks the wild sea mew4  ,it was 
,norway's ,childe ,harold--the most     
solitary figure in our cultural         
history--who was taking leave of his    
country1 never to see her rugged shores 
and her magnificent inland sceneries    
again4 ,there was1 indeed1 nothing      
poetical about him1 for--as you         
know--the age was a decidedly prosaic   
one1 and ,holberg1 later in life1       
confessed that up to the age of #cj he  
would yawn when he heard the finest     
piece of poetry read to him4 ,yet1 as we
 can see him from our present vantage   
ground1 he was at that moment the       
embodiment of the genius of the         
,norwegian nation1 which once more1 as  
in the saga period1 hoisted its sails   
for ,western ,europe1 bold1 eager of    
adventures1 fascinated at the very      
thought of getting away4   ,,ii4  ,i    
want to lay stress on the ,norwegian    
origin and education of ,holberg1 on his
 stay among our peasantry in two        

characteristic parts of the country1 and
 also on the fact that he was over #ba  
when he left ,norway for ever4 ,if these
 things were not indispensable for a    
fair conception of his lifework1 ,i     
should certainly not have dwelt on them4
 ,yet a few particulars are still wanted
 to give a finishing touch to his       
portrait4  ,he set out in life with a   
delicate figure and an extremely        
youthful appearance1 but in return he   
was possessed of some solid1 staunch    
qualities which moulded him into a      
first-rate character4 ,from his mother1 
whose family is still numerously        
represented in ,norway1 he had inherited
 a sound realism which made him firmly  
resolved to get a position in life and  
to settle down comfortably on a fixed   
salary4 ,from his father1 of whose      
family no trace is left among us1 he had
 inherited what has been called the     
itinerary element of his nature--his    
passion for travelling1 initiated by his
 early ,fron journey1 his eagerness to  

see foreign countries1 to stroll about  
in the big cities1 to pass along the    
high roads from one country into        
another1 covering extraordinary         
distances--an energetic student1 a      
haunter of libraries1 always on the     
look-out for new books1 but above       
anything else1 always and everywhere1 a 
keen observer of men and things1        
enriching himself with knowledge from   
the fresh1 inexhaustible sources of     
life4  ,besides this1 he was a true son 
of ,bergen1 the most heterogeneous town 
of ,norway--a sort of ,noah's ,ark1     
according to his own expression--with a 
development of its own which1 in the    
course of centuries1 has made the       
natives of ,bergen differ considerably  
in views and manners from the rest of   
their countrymen4 ,even in our days     
these differences still make themselves 
felt in some degree4 ,all this you must 
bear in mind when you speak about       
,holberg4 ,the remarkable influence     
exercised upon him by ,bergen gives the 

clue to his personality--to his genius  
as a playwright1 to his liberal views as
 an historian1 to his clear1 realistic  
reasoning as a philosopher4 ,it is      
always ,bergen1 never ,copenhagen1 which
 is uppermost in his mind4  ,how        
excellently this young1 highly-gifted   
,norwegian was prepared for a thorough  
appreciation of contemporary ,england6  
,during the forty-six years which had   
passed since the ,restoration of #affj1 
,england--as you will remember--had     
witnessed a period full of political and
 literary activity1 but above all1      
remarkable for its prodigious advance in
 the field of science4 ,this progress   
was1 it is true1 a matter of ,european  
rather than of ,english concern1 but the
 inquiring spirit and the rationalist   
desire to get to the bottom of things   
which were the hallmarks of the age were
 in no country developed more strikingly
 than in ,england4 ,latin was still the 
language in which scientific works were 
written1 but the ,royal ,society had    

already unfolded its national programme 
of bringing all things as near the      
mathematical plainness as possible1 and 
of preferring the language of artisans1 
countrymen and merchants to that of wits
 and scholars4  ,the extraordinary      
events of the time also highly appealed 
to the receptive mind of ,holberg4 ,when
 he arrived at ,oxford in the spring of 
#agjf1 in the company of his friend1    
,mr4 ,brix1 ,england was in the midst of
 the ,spanish ,war of ,succession1 of   
which--as we remember--he had got some  
experiences on his ,dutch journey4      
,during a sojourn of nearly two years1  
,holberg was a close observer of        
everything connected with the great war4
 ,it was not so easy at that time as    
during the recent ,armageddon to get    
hold of the historical thread leading up
 to events and to explain the facts by  
way of arguments2 but he was impressed  
by the dogged determination of the      
,english in their heavy struggle against
 ,louis ,,xiv41 and their unswerving    

belief in a victorious issue4 ,he       
himself never doubted that they would   
win the war1 thanks to their splendid   
resources no less than to the very      
principles for which they fought4 ,in   
short1 it is the prototype of the       
world's war by which we are             
confronted--the ,spirit of the ,west1   
the representative of the political and 
intellectual liberty of the future      
struggling against absolutism and all   
the reactionary powers of the past4  ,as
 a matter of course1 ,holberg was a     
staunch pro-ally1 and besides this1 he  
was also highly interested in the       
political events of the day4 ,the ,union
 between ,england and ,scotland which   
took place during his stay at ,oxford1  
strikes him as one of the most important
 acts of statesmanship in any age--an   
event of far-reaching consequences--and 
he never gets tired of commenting upon  
it and of subjecting it to new          
investigations4  ,i do not presume to   
think that ,i can tell you anything new 

concerning the conditions ruling at this
 ,university at the commencement of the 
eighteenth century1 but some brief      
particulars in connection with          
,holberg's stay are of interest and     
importance for a fair understanding of  
the moulding influence of ,oxford upon  
his character and genius4  ,throughout  
the seventeenth century an increasing   
number of students from ,denmark and    
,norway had found their way to ,oxford1 
the most noble theatre and emporium to  
all good sciences1 to quote a           
contemporary writer4 ,from #afjb to     
#afhc the famous ,liber ,peregrinorum1  
or ,admission ,index1 shows a total of  
#aab names of ,danish and ,norwegian    
origin2 during the next twenty years1 up
 to #agjh1 their number was #fj1 of     
which #df were ,danes and #ad were      
,norwegians4 ,these figures are         
interesting as an unmistakable proof of 
the growing intercourse between the     
,dano-,norwegian monarchy and ,england1 
which by this time had commenced to make

 itself decidedly felt in the field of  
commerce4  ,from the commencement of the
 eighteenth century1 ,london1 the famous
 fire of which in #afff had given a     
great impetus to the small timber ports 
of ,south-,eastern ,norway1 became a    
city of growing importance to our       
country4 ,during their holidays the     
,norwegian ,oxford students used to     
spend their time in ,london1 where there
 was a numerous colony of ,danes and    
,norwegians and a constant influx of    
seamen and merchants1 especially from   
,south ,norway4 ,it was not1 therefore1 
altogether by chance that ,holberg      
arrived in ,england4 ,he sailed1 in fact
 on the westward current of the time4   
,on their arrival at this ,university1  
,april #ahth1 #agjf1 having covered     
their way from ,gravesend to ,london1   
and from ,london to ,oxford on foot1    
,holberg and his friend soon found out  
that their finances were at so low an   
ebb that before they could proceed with 
their studies they had to provide for   

their domestic necessities4 ,fortunately
 ,oxford was no particularly expensive  
place at that time1 #dj a year being    
sufficient to pull a man through1 and   
,holberg was always very economical1 and
 understood remarkably well the         
difficult art of making both ends meet4 
,yet their first months at ,oxford were 
passed under very strained conditions   
until ,mr4 ,brix succeeded in getting a 
supply of money from a banker in        
,london4 ,in the meantime1 they had     
raised the necessary funds themselves by
 giving lessons in music and languages1 
and it is a characteristic evidence of  
,holberg's cleverness that1 after the   
departure of his friend1 which took     
place comparatively soon1 he managed to 
study at ,magdalen ,college for more    
than eighteen months1 with no other     
money than that obtained through his    
lessons as master of languages and of   
the flute4  ,the more you try to sound  
the marvellous authorship of ,holberg   
the more you feel convinced of the      

importance of his stay at ,oxford4 ,it  
would require several lectures to trace 
the way in which his impressions and his
 experiences of ,oxford have moulded him
 as an historian1 as a playwright1 as a 
philosopher and moralist4 ,i can only   
tell you that he took with him from this
 place to ,copenhagen and to the        
,dano-,norwegian community not only the 
conviction of his future mission1 but   
practically the very seeds of what      
should ripen into one of the richest    
crops in the field of literature4 ,if   
,macaulay had known ,holberg he would   
have had to give a somewhat different   
turn to his famous sentence3 ,france has
 been the intermediary between ,england 
and ,mankind4 ,holberg visited ,england 
twenty-five years before ,voltaire and  
twenty-four years before ,montesquieu1  
and brought back first hand views and   
impressions1 sifted only through the    
medium of his unbiassed mind4  ,to put  
it briefly1 ,holberg has been the       
intermediary between ,england and the   

,north4  ,at ,oxford ,holberg planned   
the work by which he started in         
literature in #agaa3 ,introduction to   
the ,history of the ,european           
,kingdoms1#b containing a remarkable    
chapter on ,england and the ,english    
from the time of the ,romans down to    
#agjb1 with quotations from various     
authors1 among them ,milton1 ,william   
,camden1 and ,lord ,clarendon4 ,this    
work1 against which many objections have
 been raised and1 to a certain extent1  
not unjustly1 nevertheless is stamped by
 the characteristic features of his     
genius1 so familiar to all ,holberg     
students--his original way of thinking1 
his contempt for all sorts of           
ostentatious learning blocking the way  
by irrelevant facts1 his plain          
language--vigorous1 manly1 with a turn  
of its own--his sound judgment1 and     
perhaps1 above all1 the generally fair  
way in which he arraigns his persons    
before the tribunal of history4         
,summing up his impressions and         

reminiscences twenty years later1       
,holberg says in his autobiography3 ,i  
confess that ,i have many reasons for   
considering myself under great          
obligations to the ,oxonians4  ,this is 
no phrase of politeness4 ,it is the     
opinion of a man whose correct and      
blameless demeanour1 no less than his   
sincerity1 his loyalty1 and his         
intellectual abilities1 had won him the 
appreciation of his professors and the  
friendship of his fellow-students4 ,his 
,english was excellent1 and he does not 
conceal the fact that he is a bit proud 
of it4 ,indeed1 it is somewhat of a     
sacrifice not to indulge in quotations  
from ,holberg's                         
autobiography--particularly so at the   
point at which we find ourselves        
now--for his description of his stay at 
,oxford is highly attractive1 not only  
from a literary but a human point of    
view4 ,altogether his autobiography is a
 curiously fascinating work1 of which no
 one will repent making the             

acquaintance4 ,it ought to reappear in a
 modern ,english translation4   ,,iii4  
,after an interesting decade the        
importance of which to the development  
of ,holberg's genius cannot be          
over-rated we meet him in #agah as      
,professor of ,metaphysics in           
,copenhagen ,university4 ,after having  
left ,oxford in #agjh he had--to sum up 
the period as briefly as possible--spent
 his time in studies at home and in     
travels abroad4 ,he never revisited     
,england1 but he lived and rooted in the
 ,english world of thought1 and whether 
in ,germany1 in ,paris1 in ,rome1 or at 
,copenhagen1 he studied and reasoned on 
the basis of his ,oxford experiences4   
,his principal work from this period1   
,introduction to the ,law of ,nature and
 of ,nations1 although little more than 
an abridgement of ,pufendorf's great    
work on the same subject1 is interesting
 as a proof of his independent views and
 his patriotic ambitions as an          
historian4  ,it would be an exaggeration

 unworthy of the reserved way in which  
,holberg used to express himself1 to say
 that he owed everything to ,england4   
,he was certainly also highly indebted  
to ,france4 ,setting apart what he owes 
to ,holland1 ,germany and ,italy1 ,i    
think we may square the debt by saying  
that while ,england moulded his         
character and gave the first impetus to 
his genius as an historian1 ,france     
chiefly contributed to the unfolding of 
his genius as a humorous writer4 ,he is 
the ,molire of the ,north and1 no doubt1
 one of the greatest dramatic authors   
ever born4  ,in #agai ,holberg's genius1
 which1 until then1 had kept strictly   
within the rules prescribed by his      
professorship1 apparently cool and      
indifferent to the outside world1       
suddenly burst into a fit of laughter   
which resounded through the ,north4     
,this was his immortal heroic poem1     
,peder ,paars1 which appeared in the    
autumn of #agai1 and which marks nothing
 less than a new era in ,norwegian and  

,danish literature4  ,peder ,paars1 like
 ,ibsen's ,peer ,gynt1 the only parallel
 in our literature1 is written in verse4
 ,ibsen's rhymes are stamped by his     
mastership of form1 and move in shifting
 stanzas according to the requirements  
of the situation and the emotion they   
are intended to create4 ,holberg walks  
throughout his poem on the high-heeled  
,alexandrines of the age4 ,peer ,gynt is
 the embodiment of the ,norwegian       
soul--,norway1 as seen from within4     
,peder ,paars is the central gallery of 
contemporary ,denmark1 with all its     
queer figures--,denmark1 as seen from   
without4 ,that is why ,holberg could    
never have written ,peder ,paars if he  
had been born and bred a ,dane4 ,he had 
to be an outsider to get the right      
perspective4  ,the gist of the poem is  
quickly told4 ,peder ,paars1 a plain    
,danish citizen of a provincial town1   
wants to visit his sweetheart at some   
other provincial town a few miles off4  
,he has to go by sea1 of course1 for    

,denmark1 as you know1 is pre-eminently 
a country composed of isles1 and1 like  
,odysseus and ,aeneas1 he has some      
mighty enemies among the immortal gods  
who will not allow him to complete his  
very reasonable journey4 ,he is         
shipwrecked and washed ashore with his  
followers on ,anholt1 the very smallest 
of all ,danish isles4 ,his experiences  
in this place form the chief part of the
 poem1 for in this little1              
out-of-the-way island ,holberg gives us1
 as it were1 contemporary ,denmark in a 
nutshell4 ,finally1 the goddess of love 
pities him2 he succeeds in making his   
escape from ,anholt1 and arrives        
subsequently at ,jutland1 where he has  
another series of remarkable            
experiences4 ,like ,peer ,gynt1 he is   
put into a mad-house1 but some time     
afterwards he is released and is        
escorted in triumph out of town4 ,the   
last glimpse we get of him is where he  
is made a soldier and has to strip      
himself of all he is possessed of in    

order to be set free and become a       
civilian again4 ,here the poem ends     
abruptly1 unfinished1 as if the author  
has got tired2 but the torso stands out 
as the work of a genius1 and for two    
centuries it has stood the test of time 
and towers still as one of the most     
imposing works of fiction in ,northern  
literature4  ,holberg had a double      
purpose with ,peder ,paars4 ,by the form
 he chose he intended to aim a decisive 
blow at the learned apparatus of classic
 poetry as we meet it1 especially in    
,homer and ,virgil4 ,there was at that  
time a lively discussion going on in    
,england and ,france as to whether      
classic or modern poetry ought to be    
preferred1 and both views had their     
eager advocates and opponents4 ,holberg1
 as you may easily imagine1 sided with  
the defenders of modern literature1     
partly because1 being a true son of the 
age to which he belonged1 he was as     
indifferent to the fresh originality of 
,homer as he was untouched by the       

high-sounding imitation of ,virgil1 and 
in his poem he mixes them up in a most  
disrespectful way4  ,what is            
considerably more important to us than  
the form of his poem is1 however1 the   
substance of it4 ,the former belongs to 
the taste of an age which has           
disappeared long ago2 the latter is--as 
,i have already suggested--a cultural   
portrait of contemporary ,denmark1 and  
at the same time a marvellous gallery   
full of human characters1 stamped by the
 eternal mark of life itself4 ,holberg1 
like ,hamlet1 was of opinion that there 
was something rotten in the state of    
,denmark1 and he made up his mind to set
 her right by the sound cure of irony4  
,he could have chosen no better remedy2 
for1 in fact1 the community in which he 
found himself was not disgraced by vices
 which preyed on the very pith of the   
nation and endangered its future4 ,the  
chief fault with it was that owing to a 
development which forms a               
highly-interesting chapter in the       

cultural history of the country--but    
which it would take too long to         
detail--,denmark1 as ,holberg found her 
two centuries ago1 was about to be      
stifled by an atmosphere of pedantry1   
humbug1 hypocrisy and unsound ambition4 
,surrounded by laws and orders in       
council which interfered with their     
daily life in the most foolish way and  
increased the number of misdemeanants1  
the ,danish people was about to lose its
 self-respect and absorb itself in an   
indiscriminate imitation of foreign     
nations4 ,holberg's keen glance pierced 
through all this foolery into the very  
depth of the national character4 ,he saw
 that the ,danish people was sound at   
the core1 and he therefore merrily      
divested it of one piece of these       
masquerade garments after the other4 ,he
 wanted to show the people among which  
he lived that life is truth1 not humbug1
 and that instead of the comfortable    
advice3 ,disguise6 hide6 there is the   
more noble appeal3 ,be thyself1 and fear

 not6  ,there is a whole literature on  
,peder ,paars in ,norwegian and ,danish1
 and it is only fair to say that        
opinions of the critics vary as to the  
intrinsic value of the different parts  
of the poem from a literary point of    
view4 ,on the other hand1 full credit is
 given to the poem from a cultural      
standpoint4 ,generally speaking1 ,peder 
,paars is not only the first dazzling   
display of ,holberg's genius as a       
humorous and satirical writer2 it also  
reveals him as the future playwright1   
who within a few years was to send pit1 
boxes and galleries into fits of        
laughter4  ,indeed1 we may ask the      
question3 ,was there ever in any country
 a professor of metaphysics with so     
adequate a store of humour and with a   
more irresistible fancy to display it8  
,,iv4  ,holberg as a dramatic author is 
certainly one of the most interesting   
chapters in the history of ,norwegian   
and ,danish literature1 and none has    
been subjected to a more searching      

examination4  ,it is admitted by all    
critics that he is indebted to the      
famous playwrights of ancient           
,rome--,plautus and ,terentius--and he  
certainly also owes something to the    
,italian comedy with which he had become
 acquainted both in ,italy and in       
,paris4 ,his relation to ,molire whom he
 admired very much has been a matter of 
discussion1 even in ,france1 and there  
are in some of his plays characters and 
scenes which remind one of the ,english 
dramatists of the ,restoration4 ,but he 
never stooped to mere imitation4 ,the   
comedies which have established his fame
 all bear the indelible stamp of his    
originality and of his genius4  ,let us 
take a short review of some of the most 
famous of his comedies4  ,first you make
 the acquaintance of the ,tinker        
,politician--a typical representative of
 the time1 so occupied with speculations
 and discussions on public affairs that 
he has no time to look after his own    
trade4 ,it consequently goes from bad to

 worse4 ,he is the central figure in a  
self-appointed board of ,blue-,apron    
,politicians--a saddler1 a cutler1 a    
wig-maker1 and so on4 ,they are over    
head and ears in politics1 discussing   
the events of the ,spanish ,war of      
,succession1 giving advice to ,prince   
,eugne and the ,duke of ,marlborough or 
denouncing their dispositions1 while    
expounding the most startling historical
 theories and making the most absurd    
geographical assertions4 ,they are also 
eagerly taking down their own           
authorities4  ,holberg has been so      
cautious as to make ,hamburg the scene  
of his comedy1 for it would certainly   
not have been tolerated if the action   
had been made to take place at          
,copenhagen4 ,some of the remarks made  
by the characters of the play have1     
therefore1 retained a wonderful         
actuality4 ,by way of example3 ,indeed1 
those people don't see what is to the   
true benefit of ,germany4 ,replacing the
 word ,germany by the word ,denmark we  

see1 however1 the homely1               
eighteenth-century address quite        
clearly4  ,in the third act the ,tinker 
,politician is most unexpectedly        
appointed ,burgomaster of ,hamburg--a   
sham appointment1 of course1 arranged by
 some persons who wish to play a        
practical joke on him in order to put   
his remarkable political qualities and  
his much-boasted administrative         
faculties to the test4 ,it need hardly  
be said that his burgomastership which1 
by the way1 only lasts twenty-four      
hours1 filled up with constant          
embarrassments1 disillusionments and    
mortifications1 finally turns out a     
complete failure4 ,he is just about to  
hang himself in a fit of despair when he
 is informed of the joke which has been 
played upon him4 ,he rejoices in his    
good luck1 denounces his political      
vanity in a verse which has become      
classic1 and the moral of which may be  
expressed in the old proverb3 ,the      
shoemaker should stick to his last4  ,in

 another play we meet ,jean de ,france1 
a ,copenhagen cousin of ,the ,gentleman 
,dancing ,master1 as ,wycherly presents 
him in one of his wittiest plays4 ,his  
name is ,hans ,frandsen1 a ,danish      
family name--plain and unpretentious4   
,but ,hans has been ten weeks in ,paris 
and has returned with his name          
translated4 ,he mixes his ,danish with  
,french words and phrases in the most   
ridiculous way1 trespassing against all 
the rules of ,french ,grammar4 ,he quite
 impresses his father and mother by his 
high-sounding name1 his ,parisian       
manners1 and his air de grand seigneur1 
but his would-be father-in-law informs  
him very plainly that he is an          
old-fashioned ,danish citizen who means 
to stand no nonsense1 and who will never
 give his daughter to a fool4 ,through a
 practical joke played upon ,jean de    
,france by means of the clever maid     
servant1 who pretends to have left      
,paris for ,copenhagen with the sole    
purpose of seeing him and enjoying his  

company1 his ridiculousness is so amply 
proved that he ultimately resolves to   
shake off the dust of ,denmark from his 
feet and return to fair ,france4 ,the   
moral of the play may be expressed in   
the old saying3 ,all is not gold that   
glitters--and the substance of it is to 
serve as a warning against the bad      
custom of the time of sending young     
people abroad before they have developed
 the necessary amount of self-knowledge 
and commonsense to profit by their stay4
  ,in ,jacob von ,thyboc or ,the        
,bragging ,soldier1 we meet a           
highly-developed specimen of the        
military fool4 ,i think this comedy     
stands out as one of the most daring    
attacks in any literature on the        
military profession4 ,it is a picture of
 early eighteenth-century militarism in 
its worst form1 redeemed by no          
sympathetic feature1 the ,danish army   
being at that time practically flooded  
by ,german officers1 bragging and       
swearing1 mixing ,german and ,danish in 

the most horrible way1 scolding and     
flogging their soldiers1 but at the     
emergency cowards1 eager to save their  
skins4  ,as a matter of course1 ,holberg
 also introduces to us what we may call 
the ,latin fool4 ,his name is ,erasmus  
,montanus--an unsurpassable translation 
of the plain ,danish name1 ,rasmus      
,berg4 ,he exhibits his learning as a   
constant display of paradoxes and gives 
only one evidence of sound judgment and 
insight4 ,erasmus is capable of proving 
that his mother is a stone1 because a   
stone cannot fly1 nor can his mother2   
but as the poor peasant woman gets      
afraid of this astounding metamorphosis 
and already thinks her legs are turning 
cold1 he graciously comforts her by the 
assurance that she can think and speak1 
which a stone cannot4 ,consequently you 
are no stone1 mother6 ,he can also prove
 by several arguments that children are 
entitled to thrash their old parents1   
one of the arguments being that you have
 to restore what has been bestowed upon 

you4 ,it serves him right when the whole
 parish finally rises against him1 not  
because of all these foolish assertions1
 but because of the only theory in which
 he is perfectly right1 and which he    
proves by fair arguments1 that of the   
earth being round4 ,on this point he has
 to give in and admit that the earth is 
flat like a pancake--the only condition 
on which the father of his sweetheart   
will give his consent to the marriage4  
,in the ,lying-in ,room1 a most curious 
portrait of contemporary customs and    
manners in connection with such a daily 
event as the birth of a child--we find  
ourselves in a female gallery1          
unsurpassed in any literature for       
variety1 liveliness and realism4 ,it    
might be worthy of a whole lecture on   
what would certainly prove a highly     
interesting subject3 ,holberg and the   
,fair ,sex4  ,may ,i finally mention as 
perhaps the most deeply human of all his
 comedies1 ,jeppe on the ,hill or ,the  
,transformed ,peasant4 ,it is a         

representation of a practical joke      
played on a poor peasant who is found in
 a field near the high road1 senselessly
 intoxicated4 ,he is subsequently       
brought to the mansion1 put into his    
lordship's bed and garbed with his      
lordship's finest nightshirt4 ,he awakes
 and believes himself in ,paradise1 is  
treated as a ,lord by the real owner of 
the mansion whose sham servility makes  
him behave himself insolently1 and is   
once more intoxicated and replaced where
 he was found in his old dirty clothes4 
,he is then accused of intrusion and    
violent behaviour at the mansion1       
sentenced formally to death1 and        
subjected1 when asleep1 under the       
influence of a drug1 to a sham          
execution1 the rope being fastened under
 his arms instead of round his neck4 ,he
 is finally lowered from the gallows1   
and brought back to life by the same    
authorities who have sentenced him to   
death1 after which he is dismissed with 
a few shillings--and the bitter         

conviction that he has been treated as a
 plaything by the ,lord of the mansion4 
,the low social level of the ,danish    
peasantry in ,holberg's days which      
contrasted so unfavourably with the     
social standing of the ,norwegian       
peasants2 the state of drunkenness to   
which they stooped in consequence of the
 physical and moral humiliations to     
which they were subjected1 and which    
they wished to forget2 the commonsense  
and keen power of reflection of which   
they nevertheless were possessed and to 
which ,holberg has paid the famous      
tribute3 ,i never speak with peasants   
without learning something from         
them--all this has combined to make     
,jeppe perhaps the most famous person in
 the ,holberg gallery1 conquering       
generation after generation by his      
inexhaustible flow of life4  ,it has    
justly been said by the famous ,danish  
poet1 ,oehlenschlaeger 7#aggi-ahej7 that
 if we might imagine that every document
 and record bearing upon ,denmark at the

 commencement of the eighteenth century 
suddenly vanished from the earth with   
the sole exception of ,holberg's        
comedies1 it would yet be possible to   
reconstruct the ,danish community of the
 time on the basis of them4 ,this       
assertion is no exaggeration1 but       
nevertheless it only contains a half    
truth4  ,in their outward appearance    
,holberg's comedies are ,danish--customs
 and manners1 names and scenery being   
contemporary ,danish portraits hailing  
from ,copenhagen or from the            
province--but from within they are      
unmistakably ,norwegian4 ,in fact1 the  
typical characters of the ,holberg      
gallery are not only his compatriots2   
they are natives of ,bergen like        
himself4 ,the old-fashioned gentleman1  
,jeronimus1 narrow-minded1 but possessed
 of a solid stock of commonsense which  
will stand no nonsense from the younger 
generation2 his wife ,magdelone1 who has
 some recollections of a merry youth and
 is not altogether proof against        

relapses into former extravagances2     
,henrik1 the clever servant with the    
ever-inventive brain1 the champion of   
the rights of youth2 ,pernille1 the     
witty chamber-maid1 alternately         
impertinent and obsequious1 but always  
beaming with mirth1 sure of a safe1     
however narrow1 escape--every one of    
them1 as well as a number of less       
important characters1 are stamped by    
their own dear1 queer town4 ,you may    
even meet them in the streets of ,bergen
 to-day4 ,it was not therefore by chance
 that the national stage of ,norway was 
founded at ,bergen in the middle of the 
nineteenth century4 ,the city in which  
,holberg was born and in which his      
persons moved about in life1 quite      
naturally became the birthplace of the  
,norwegian scenic art1 and it is the    
lasting honour of the actors and        
actresses of the ,bergen ,national      
,stage--still the official name of the  
theatre of the city--to have contributed
 to build up a ,holberg tradition1 which

 has been further developed by actors   
and actresses from other parts of the   
country1 chiefly at the ,christiania    
,theatre and its artistic heir the      
,national ,theatre at ,christiania4     
,v4  ,in #agbh ,copenhagen was          
devastated by a fire1 the extent of     
which1 comparatively speaking1 can only 
be likened to the famous fire of ,london
 sixty-two years earlier1 to which ,i   
have already made a reference4 ,in its  
consequences1 it was even more          
far-reaching4 ,it closes a chapter of   
high political and cultural interest in 
the history of the ,dano-,norwegian     
monarchy1 and opens a new one1 imbued   
with an entirely different spirit1 the  
characteristic features of which were   
,pietism and ,germanism4 ,denmark1 and  
more especially ,copenhagen1 became an  
intellectual province of ,germany1      
customs and manners being stamped by the
 new religious movement1 and ordinary   
life surrounded by a serenity which     
closed the door on all pleasures and    

enjoyments4 ,it goes without saying that
 theatrical performances were considered
 most sinful1 and that1 even if the     
national stage had not had to go into   
bankruptcy some years before the fire1  
playgoing would have been promptly      
forbidden along with balls1 masquerades1
 and other public and private           
entertainments4  ,under these           
circumstances ,holberg who1 not long ago
 had published his autobiography as a   
sort of apology--a literary event which1
 for various reasons1 has been very much
 discussed by ,holberg students--had to 
give up his activity as a playwright and
 turn to a work more in conformity with 
his position as a professor in the      
,university of ,copenhagen4 ,but before 
he did so1 he felt it his duty to inform
 the public that he was the author of   
the comedies which had hitherto appeared
 under the fictitious name of a citizen 
of a provincial town4 ,he certainly did 
not tell the public anything new by this
 information1 but he impressed it       

favourably and1 what is more important  
still1 he has profited by it in the eyes
 of posterity4 ,we are pleased to learn1
 through the authority of ,holberg      
himself on the eve of his long silence  
as a playwright1 that he admits the     
authorship of his immortal comedies in  
face of enemies whose machinations might
 have overthrown him from behind1 if he 
had not turned round to meet them and   
confronted them with an open visage4    
,in #agcj ,holberg was appointed        
,professor of ,history1 and for the next
 sixteen years1 covering the whole of   
the reign of ,christian ,,vi41 he       
displays the activity of an historian1  
an essayist1 and a philosophical        
writer--another proof of the remarkable 
versatility of his genius4 ,within      
recent years this phase of ,holberg's   
authorship has been subjected to a close
 and interesting examination1 especially
 by ,norwegian ,holberg students1 and   
many valuable features1 adding to the   
correctness of ,holberg's portrait as an

 author and as a man1 have been         
established beyond doubt4 ,his          
historical works1 obsolete though they  
are and superseded by modern            
contributions1 are imbued with the same 
spirit as ,peder ,paars and the         
,comedies4 ,in his ,history of ,denmark 
7,i4-,,iii47 his greatest and most      
mature work2 in his ,description of     
,denmark and ,norway2 in his            
,description of ,bergen2 in his ,general
 ,history of the ,church2 in his        
,history of ,heroes and in his ,history 
of ,heroines1 to mention only the most  
important historical works of this part 
of his life1 in all of them we discover 
the same qualities which struck us as   
characteristic features in his first    
work1 deepened by his experiences and   
sharpened by his superior faculty of    
observation4 ,in particular1 we notice  
the light thread of irony running       
through the whole tissue of his         
reflection and composition1 stamping    
argument and style alike by the         

irresistible humour of his genius4 ,it  
is as if the playwright is constantly   
casting a glance on the manuscript over 
the shoulder of the historian1 and as if
 merry ,thalia always takes a fancy to  
tease her serene sister ,kalliope4  ,in 
the midst of his learned studies        
,holberg1 in a relapse1 as it were1 to  
his former satirical humour1 surprised  
the public by a work which very soon got
 international reputation4 ,it appeared 
at ,leipzig in #agda1 in ,latin1 under  
the title of ,nicolai ,klimii ,iter     
,subterraneum1 and was promptly         
translated into a number of ,european   
languages1 among them ,english4 ,the    
first ,english translation of ,niels    
,klim dates from #agdb2 the next from   
#ahbh4c ,it ought to reappear in a new  
translation1 and be included among the  
,world's ,classics1 for next to         
,gulliver's ,travels there is hardly a  
work in any literature to which it can  
be adequately compared4  ,niels ,klim is
 a ,norwegian student--from ,bergen1    

course--who1 after having taken his     
degrees at the ,university of           
,copenhagen1 both in theology and       
philosophy1 has returned penniless from 
the temple of the ,muses1 like all other
 ,norwegian students4 ,strolling about  
one day among the hills which surround  
the city1 he comes across a big cavern1 
remarkable from time immemorial for a   
continual groaning caused by the        
circulation of the air which is being   
drawn into the hole and again expelled4 
,he makes up his mind to investigate the
 phenomenon and a few days later1       
assisted by four labourers1 with rope   
and boat-hooks he makes his descent1    
being lowered gently down the centre of 
the hole4 ,unfortunately the rope       
suddenly snaps when he is only #ab feet 
down1 and in the midst of a thick       
darkness ,mr4 ,klim1 with tremendous    
rapidity1 falls straight through the    
globe until he ultimately finds himself 
perfectly unhurt on another planet4 ,he 
is startled at discovering that the     

inhabitants of the country1 the name of 
which is ,potu1 are walking trees1      
moving about with an extreme slowness   
and gravity4 ,he afterwards finds out   
that the mental qualities of the        
,potuites are in every respect in       
conformity with their outward           
appearance4  ,potu is ,england1 as      
,holberg saw it--and wished to see      
it--and in the local description of it  
we quickly discover scenes of an        
unmistakable ,english kind4 ,the        
,potuites are possessed of a highly     
conservative temper1 but at the same    
time they are imbued with a true liberal
 spirit1 which makes their institutions1
 customs and manners--in short1 their   
community as a whole--contrast          
favourably with the communities of      
contemporary ,europe4  ,in ,potu there  
are no religious quarrels1 because the  
whole creed of the population is        
contained in a few1 easily intelligible1
 and very concise sentences4 ,there are 
no suffragettes either1 to use a modern 

term1 for the women enjoy all the rights
 which among the ,european nations1 are 
bestowed upon men alone4 ,a highly      
esteemed widow holds the office of      
,minister of ,finance2 an elderly       
unmarried lady is ,chief ,justice--both 
to the perfect satisfaction of their    
compatriots4 ,the sciences taught at the
 academies of ,potu are ,history1       
,economy1 ,mathematics and              
,jurisprudence4 ,medicine is considered 
superfluous1 as an academic science1    
owing to the temperate and regular      
habits of the ,potuites1 while          
,metaphysics is strictly prohibited1    
those inclined to such studies being    
promptly banished to the interior of the
 firmament4 ,the government of ,potu is 
based upon the principles of absolutism1
 but as the ,princes always rule        
strictly in accordance with the         
principle of justice and there is a     
perfect equality among the citizens--all
 ranks and titles having been abolished 
centuries ago--the ,potuites are very   

pleased with the state of public affairs
 and do not want any change4 ,it is not 
absolutely prohibited to make proposals 
tending to change the existing          
conditions1 but reformers had better    
take care before launching their        
proposals1 for if they are deemed futile
 by the commission appointed to consider
 them1 the schemer is sure to be hanged4
  ,mr4 ,klim1 who is considered too     
versatile to hold any office of         
importance in the ,principality of      
,potu1 is vexed to see himself entrusted
 with the office of a royal courier1 for
 which the ,potuites find him           
excellently fitted owing to his fast    
legs4 ,in this capacity he travels all  
over the principality1 having a number  
of remarkable experiences1 visiting1    
among other places1 the famous site of  
learning of ,keba1 the subterraneous    
,oxford4 ,unfortunately1 ,mr4 ,klim     
cannot control his ,european ambition as
 a reformer1 but owing to his foreign   
origin and his inexperience1 he escapes 

the gallows and is expelled instead4 ,he
 subsequently arrives in the ,republic  
of ,martinia1 the inhabitants of which  
form the most complete contrast to the  
,potuites4 ,the ,martinians are apes1   
and in their country1 which1 as can     
easily be seen1 is meant to be a sort of
 underground ,france1 everything goes   
with a tremendous speed4 ,proposals and 
schemes of every kind are flying about2 
the number of schemers is unlimited2    
innovations are hailed with rapture1    
their popularity being always in        
proportion to their foolishness4 ,mr4   
,klim becomes the hero of ,martinia and 
is considered a true benefactor of the  
nation when he invents the wig1 which is
 promptly adopted by the ,martinians4   
,unfortunately a ,martinian lady1 the   
wife of one of the most prominent men of
 the ,republic1 falls in love with him1 
and as he declines her advances1 her    
love is changed into hatred and she gets
 him banished from the country4  ,after 
a series of remarkable adventures ,mr4  

,klim ultimately lands in ,quama1 the   
inhabitants of which are human beings at
 a very low level of civilisation1 among
 whom he appears in the quality of a    
reformer4 ,in ,quama he discovers a     
highly interesting manuscript1 the work 
of a ,quamite1 describing his           
experiences in a ,european journey4 ,it 
is a first-rate eighteenth century      
satire on ,european conditions and the  
customs and manners of the principal    
countries of ,europe4 ,even here        
,holberg's predilection for ,england    
does not fail4 ,the ,english1 ,i think  
you will be pleased to learn1 are let   
off most easily4 ,like his countryman1  
,peer ,gynt1 a century later1 though    
under somewhat different conditions1    
,mr4 ,klim ultimately is chosen ,emperor
 by the ,quamites1 but this proves to be
 too much for him4 ,his ambition very   
soon passes all reasonable limits and   
his reign only knows the two            
alternatives3 ,world-power or ,downfall4
 ,it need hardly be said that the latter

 becomes the natural issue1 and as a    
dethroned monarch he has to hide himself
 in a deep cavern to escape the rage of 
his embittered subjects1 whom he has    
utterly duped and destroyed4 ,suddenly  
he loses his footing and falls with a   
tremendous rapidity through the earth   
the opposite way to that by which he    
arrived on the underground planet4 ,he  
naturally lands again outside of ,bergen
 and ends his days as a modest parish   
clerk1 although never forgetting that   
once upon a time he used to be an       
,underground ,emperor4  ,niels ,klim is1
 no doubt1 the highest revelation of    
,holberg's genius4 ,we find in it all   
the humour of ,peder ,paars and the     
,comedies2 his sound judgment and his   
keenness of observation as an historian2
 his broad-mindedness as a philosopher2 
his tolerance as a moralist4 ,as a work 
of fiction1 it yields to none in        
exuberant phantasy1 and the             
imperturbable calmness of the argument  
and of the style only adds to its worth4

  ,in #agdf the reign of ,pietism came  
to an end on the death of ,christian    
,,vi4 ,the accession to the throne of   
his frivolous1 intemperate son1         
,frederick ,v41 whose first wife was a  
daughter of ,george ,,ii41 inaugurated a
 new era4 ,all gates of enjoyment were  
at once thrown open4 ,hymn-books and    
,bibles were flung away1 and people     
crowded to theatres1 masquerades1       
dancing halls and other entertainments4 
,holberg's dramatic vein began to flow  
again after a twenty years' ebb1 but the
 comedies of his closing years can in no
 way be compared to those which he      
produced in the hey-day of his life4    
,more valuable to us than these comedies
 is the series of smaller essays in the 
form of ,epistles 7five volumes71 and   
,moral ,thoughts 7two volumes71 which he
 wrote in these years along with a      
number of minor1 and we may also say1   
inferior works4 ,these volumes are still
 a rich source of information to        
,holberg students4 ,in none of his works

 do we get a more intimate personal     
acquaintance with him4 ,we learn to know
 him in his modest1 lonely1 every-day   
life2 his sympathies and his            
antipathies2 the anfractuosities of his 
mind and of his temper1 which were      
certainly no less obvious than ,samuel  
,johnson's2 his corporal frailties2 his 
mental recreations4 ,he is1 in a certain
 way1 his own ,boswell--less obtrusive1 
however1 and1 as a consequence1 more    
concise4 ,there is no subject so        
insignificant that he thinks it below   
his dignity to discuss it2 there is none
 so exalted that he refrains from       
expressing his opinion upon it4 ,he     
tells us as willingly why he prefers a  
cat to a dog1 and what a real shoemaker 
ought to know--as he tells us his       
opinion on ,god and eternity2 the       
destination of man and the supposed     
greatness of the popular heroes of      
history whom1 by the way1 he is more    
inclined to consider as the mischief    
makers of mankind and the squanderers of

 its economic wealth4 ,through the whole
 of this wonderful collection of essays 
we breathe what ,hamlet would call the  
eager and the nipping air of            
originality1 invigorating by its draught
 of commonsense and moral               
responsibility4 ,we easily forgive him  
that some of his views are obsolete1 for
 in other respects he is far ahead of   
his time1 and by his unbiassed attitude 
leaves even the most advanced spirits of
 his age behind him4  ,how              
splendidly--only to mention one         
example--he is able to grasp a character
 like that of ,cromwell6 ,at a time when
 ,cromwell was generally considered one 
of the most abominable personalities in 
history and a disgrace to his nation2   
when ,hume and ,voltaire vied with each 
other in misunderstanding him1 both     
being of opinion that ,cromwell's       
character was broadly that of a shrewd  
and daring hypocrite1#d ,holberg was no 
less convinced of the true genius of the
 ,protector than of his personal good   

faith and of his patriotic ambition4    
,the greatest gifts of nature1 he says1 
every one of which would make a man     
prominent in comparison with others     
were1 to an equal degree1 concentrated  
in ,cromwell4 ,he seems to have received
 something from all nations1 for one saw
 in him ,italian shrewdness and cunning1
 ,french swiftness1 ,english courage and
 ,spanish firmness4 ,he founded his     
fabric with cunning2 he puts his machine
 in action with rapidity2 by his courage
 he was victorious everywhere4444 ,it   
may be said that his wonderful deeds and
 his great name were sufficient to keep 
his internal and external enemies in    
subjection1 for as he was hated by all1 
so he was also admired by all4444       
,cromwell ranks with those few men whom 
nature seems to have exhausted herself  
in moulding4#e  ,i think you will admit 
that this is an extraordinary tribute to
 the memory of the ,protector1          
considering that it was written in #agdi
 by a loyal subject of an absolute      

monarch1 who had to weigh his words     
carefully when speaking about a         
regicide4 ,anyhow1 ,holberg's essay is  
the first scientific rehabilitation of  
,cromwell before ,carlyle4  ,five years 
later--energetic and active as ever and1
 above all1 remarkably receptive to the 
new ideas of the time1 and eager to     
subject them to a close                 
examination--,holberg quietly breathed  
his last4 ,he died on ,january #bhth1   
#aged1 at the age of #fi1 in his city   
residence at ,copenhagen4 ,lonely as he 
had been in life1 his death was barely  
noticed1 and a few years later one of   
his more intelligent contemporaries     
remarks with regret1 that he seems to be
 almost entirely forgotten4 ,holberg    
certainly did not expect anything in the
 way of public mourning and official    
obsequies on the part of the community  
in which he felt himself an alien1 and  
upon the mind of which the greatness of 
his lifework had not yet dawned2 but    
even what may be called the decorum of  

indifference was absent on this         
occasion4  ,yet time has brought its    
revenge4 ,before the expiration of the  
eighteenth century ,holberg's work was  
in a fair way to being acknowledged4    
,from the 'thirties of last century it  
rose rapidly in esteem4 ,the            
bi-centenary jubilee of his birth1 which
 was celebrated all over ,norway and    
,denmark on ,december #crd1 #ahhd1 gave 
a lasting impetus to his fame4 ,his     
commanding position in literature was   
established for all time4  ,in his      
article on ,holberg in the              
,encyclopaedia ,britannica 7,vol4       
,,xiii471 ,mr4 ,edmund ,gosse justly    
says3 ,holberg was1 with the exception  
of ,voltaire1 the first writer in       
,europe in two generations4 ,neither    
,pope nor ,swift1 who perhaps exceeded  
him in particular branches of           
literature1 approached him in range of  
genius or in encyclopaedic versatility4 
,holberg found ,denmark--,mr4 ,gosse    
might have added and ,norway--without   

books4 ,he wrote a library for her      
7i4e41 them7 444 ,he filled the shelves 
of the citizens with works in their own 
tongue 444 all written in a true and    
manly style and representing the extreme
 attainment of ,european culture at the 
moment4  ,in this appreciation we all   
heartily agree4 ,therefore1 wherever you
 go in ,denmark and ,norway ,holberg's  
name is familiar4 ,words and sayings of 
his live on the lips of both nations as 
colloquial terms4 ,he sits in bronze in 
an arm-chair outside the main entrance  
of the ,royal ,theatre at ,copenhagen2  
his noble sepulchre is at ,soroe1 a     
dreaming little site of learning in     
,zeeland4 ,he looks down from his       
pedestal upon the busy life of the      
,bergen fishmarket1 leaning upon his    
walking stick as if he was about to make
 a remark4 ,over the portico of the     
,national ,theatre at ,christiania1     
facing the square1 his name is inscribed
 in golden letters between those of     
,ibsen and ,bjrnson4 ,it is the ambition

 of all comic actors in ,norway and     
,denmark to appear in one of the chief  
characters of his immortal gallery4 ,he 
is in high favour with the public1 who  
applaud him with mirth and laughter2 he 
is the pride of his townsmen1 who       
cherish his memory in a special ,holberg
 ,club4 ,and in the silent libraries    
students carefully turn over the leaves 
of his works to find out new aspects of 
his genius and of his personality4 ,in  
fact1 the ,holberg literature is        
increasing year by year4  ,yet there is 
one thing wanting4 ,he must be better   
known abroad1 especially in this        
country4 ,he must become one of the     
world's classics and find his way to the
 book-shelves of ,british homes4  ,more 
than seventy years ago ,welhaven1 one of
 the greatest ,norwegian poets of the   
nineteenth century1 in a noble poem     
summed up the position of ,holberg and  
our obligation to him in a verse which  
may be rendered thus in ,english3       
,and therefore1 like a gem with precious

 gleam1   ,his name shall live in high  
and old esteem1   ,and ,northern men    
with tender care shall save   ,his noble
 image from oblivion's grave4  ,i have  
only a few words to add to these        
stanzas4 ,just as we ,norwegians have   
learnt to look upon ,ludvig ,holberg--in
 no other light we want you ,english to 
see him4 ,he is one of the highest      
revelations of the ,spirit of the ,west 
and1 at the same time1 the most precious
 link in the ancient chain of sympathy  
between ,england and ,norway4           
,,holberg ,,literature ,,and ,,holberg  
,,students4  7,,brief ,,summary47       
,notwithstanding the many highly        
interesting works both in ,norwegian and
 ,danish bearing upon the importance and
 the position of ,holberg1 no complete  
,life of ,holberg has as yet been       
written in either language4 ,we are     
entitled to ask the question3 ,will     
there ever be an adequate one8  ,as far 
as ,norway is concerned1 the most       
important ,holberg students of the      

nineteenth century are3 ,olaf ,skavlan  
7#ahch-ahia72 ,ludvig ,daae             
7#ahcd-aiaj71 and ,j4 ,e4 ,sars         
7#ahce-aiag71 all of whom were          
professors in the ,university of        
,christiania4 ,in the same connection   
may be mentioned ,henrik ,jger          
7#ahed-ahie71 the author of the         
well-known ,illustreret ,norsk          
,literaturhistoric1 in the first volume 
of which there is a valuable outline of 
,holberg's life and works along with a  
short reference to the ,holberg         
literature 7down to #ahif71 not only in 
the ,norwegian1 ,danish and ,swedish    
languages1 but also in ,german4  ,among 
the ,norwegian ,holberg students of     
to-day1 ,mr4 ,viljam ,olsvig1 ,m4,a41   
holds the most conspicuous place4 ,in a 
number of works published within the    
last twenty odd years1 largely bearing  
upon the connection between ,holberg and
 ,england1 he may fairly be said to have
 given a new impetus1 and even a new    
turn1 to the study of ,holberg4 ,messrs4

 ,francis ,bull1 ,ph4,d41 and ,sigurd   
,hst1 ,m4,a41 have1 within the last few 
years1 thrown new light on ,holberg as  
an historian2 at the same time1 the     
,rev4 ,ludvig ,selmer has subjected     
,holberg's moral and religious          
conception of life to a close and       
interesting examination4 ,messrs4 ,just 
,bing1 ,ph4,d41 and ,nordahl ,olsen1 a  
,bergen editor1 have added valuable     
information to our former knowledge of  
,holberg in connection with his native  
town4  ,the contributions of ,denmark to
 the ,holberg literature are entitled to
 a fair acknowledgment on the part of   
,norway1 and we certainly are greatly   
indebted both to the ,danish ,holberg   
students of the middle of last century  
7above all1 ,e4 ,c4 ,werlauff1          
#agha-ahga7 and the ,holberg students of
 to-day 7including ,professor ,georg    
,brandes and ,professor ,vilhelm        
,andersen7 for the excellent way in     
which they have explained ,holberg to us
 from a ,danish point of view4  ,a      

complete list of ,holberg's works       
7original and translations7 is contained
 in the ,british ,museum's ,catalogue of
 ,printed ,books 7,vol4 ,,xxix471 #ahhi4
     ,,holywell ,,press     ,,footnotes3
  #a ,epistola ad virum per illustrem4  
,an ,english translation of this work   
under the title of ,memoirs of ,lewis   
,holberg1 written by ,himself in ,latin1
 and now first translated into ,english1
 was published in ,london 7,hunt        
,clarke71 #ahbg4  #b ,in #agcc ,holberg 
published a brief ,synopsis in ,latin1  
partly based on this work4 ,in #agee the
 ,synopsis was translated into ,english 
by ,gregory ,sharp1 ,,ll4,d41 ,fellow of
 the ,royal ,society1 the translation   
being dedicated to the then ,prince of  
,wales1 afterwards ,george ,,iii4 7,a   
second edition1 corrected and enlarged1 
appeared in #ageh47 ,in #aghg a new     
revised ,english edition of the         
,synopsis was published by ,william     
,radcliffe1 ,a4,b41 of ,oriel ,college1 
,oxford4 ,both translators are unanimous

 in their praise of the original1       
,radcliffe describing it as a work which
 by its disposition and arrangement in  
the matter of history has been eminently
 useful to young students and is        
approved by the highest ,orders of      
literature4  #c ,the complete title of  
the later translation is3 ,journey to   
the ,world ,underground1 ,being the     
subterraneous ,travel of ,niels ,klim4  
,translated from the ,latin of ,lewis   
,holberg1 ,london4 ,published by ,thomas
 ,north1 #ff ,paternoster ,row1 #ahbh4  
#d ,voltaire1 in his ,sicle de ,louis   
,,xiv41 ,chap4 ,,ii 7#ageb71 says3      
,cromwell 444 portant l',evangile dans  
une main2 l'pe dans l'autre1 le masque  
de religion sur le visage 444 couvrit   
des qualits d'un grand roi tous les     
crimes d'un ursurpateur4 ,in his ,essai 
sur les ,moeurs1 ,chap4 clxxxi4 7#ageg71
 ,voltaire speaks of ,cromwell as a man 
who parvint a se faire roi sous un autre
 nom par sa valeur1 seconde de son      
hypocrisie4 ,hume1 in his ,history of   

,england1 ,chap4 lx4 7#aged7 describes  
,cromwell as a man who1 transported to a
 degree of madness with religious       
ecstasies1 never forgot the purposes to 
which they might serve 444 secretly     
paving the way by artifice and courage  
to his own unlimited authority4  #e ,the
 essay1 from which the above is a       
quotation1 was published for the first  
time in ,english in the ,english        
,historical ,review1 vol4 xxxii41 page  
#dab-dae 7#aiag71 with an introduction  
by ,mr4 ,r4 ,laache1 ,m4,a41            
,christiania4     ,,transcriber',s      
,,notes3     ,text in italics is        
enclosed with underscores3 italics4     
,inconsistencies in spelling and        
hyphenation have been retained from     
the original4    ,punctuation has been  
corrected without note4    ,obvious     
typographical errors have been corrected
 as follows3     ,page #cd3 duplicate   
word a removed4