{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_37177/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_37177","id":"gutenberg_37177","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37177","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Plays/Films/Dramas","Holberg, Ludvig, 1684-1754"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by David E. Brown, Bryan Ness and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  LUDVIG HOLBERG\n\n  THE FOUNDER OF NORWEGIAN LITERATURE\n  AND AN OXFORD STUDENT\n\n  BY\n\n  S. C. HAMMER, M.A.\n\n\n  OXFORD\n  B. H. BLACKWELL, BROAD STREET\n  MCMXX\n\n  _Price Two Shillings net_\n\n\n\n\n  LUDVIG HOLBERG\n\n  THE FOUNDER OF NORWEGIAN LITERATURE\n  AND AN OXFORD STUDENT\n\n  BY\n\n  S. C. HAMMER, M.A.\n\n\n  OXFORD\n  B.H. BLACKWELL, BROAD STREET\n  MCMXX\n\n\n\n\n  [Illustration: LUDVIG HOLBERG]\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTORY NOTE\n\n\nThe following lecture was delivered on May 23rd, 1919, at Magdalen\nCollege, Oxford, by invitation of the President, Sir Herbert Warren, and\nin the presence, among others, of the Norwegian Minister in London, Mr.\nBenjamin Vogt.\n\nIn revising the manuscript I have thought it necessary to enlarge it on\na few points where I had to condense the lecture in order to keep it\nwithin the confines of an hour. I have also added a few supplementary\nfootnotes and a brief reference to the bulky Holberg literature which\nmay perhaps prove of interest to Holberg students in England.\n\nIn paying my respectful thanks to the President of Magdalen College and\nthe distinguished audience for their kind reception I beg to sum up my\nfeelings in the words of Holberg himself: _Multis sane nominibus\ndevinctum Oxoniensibus me fateor teneri_.\n\n                                                             S. C. H.\n\nCHRISTIANIA, NORWAY.\n\n_December, 1919._\n\n\n\n\nLUDVIG HOLBERG\n\n\nMR. PRESIDENT,\n\n  YOUR EXCELLENCY,\n\n    LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,\n\n\nI.\n\nI propose to speak to you about my countryman, Ludvig Holberg, the most\nfamous Norwegian student whose name was ever entered on the records of\nthis University. If this had not been the case, I should hardly have\nventured to ascend this platform, for I feel that here, if anywhere, it\nmust be an indispensable condition that the subject should match the\nplace. For just as Oxford is not primarily an institution of education,\nbut through its traditions, its companionships, its achievements, the\nvery embodiment of British genius, British chivalry and British\naspirations, so Ludvig Holberg is, indeed, no author in the ordinary\nsense of the word. He is the founder of modern Norwegian and Danish\nliterature, the greatest playwright, the first critical historian, the\nmost human and most broad-minded moralist and philosopher of two\nnations; a man whose constant work was one of educating; who\nrevolutionised the conception of life in two kingdoms and paved the way\nfor the intellectual and political liberty of the future. For all this,\nas I am going to show you, he is, next to his genius, highly indebted to\nEngland and, above all, to Oxford. To this place he made his way when he\nquitted Norway 213 years ago, imbued with a deep and early sympathy for\nEngland; from this place he went to Copenhagen, the joint capital at\nthat time of Denmark and Norway, enriched by assets of the highest\nimportance to his life-work. I, therefore, want to thank you for the\nopportunity you have given me to pay a joint tribute to Oxford and\nHolberg.\n\nLudvig Holberg--_Ludovicus Holbergius_, _Norvegus_, as he signed his\nname in the Admission Index of the _Bodleian Library_--was born at\nBergen, the present capital of Western Norway, on December 3rd, 1684.\nHis father, who was a well-known officer in the Norwegian army, died\nwhen Lewis was an infant; his mother, when he was 10 years old. Lewis\nwho was the youngest of twelve brothers and sisters, six of whom\nattained their majority, therefore very early became acquainted with the\nsterner aspects of life and grew up a lonely boy, deprived of the tender\ncare of a parental home. It was at that time the custom in Norway to\ngive pay to sons of officers and to initiate them at an early age in\nmilitary tactics, the salaries they got being used to defray the\nexpenses of their education. These petty officers were called corporals,\nand Lewis was now promptly appointed corporal in the \"Upland Regiment,\"\nfar away from his native town, in one of the midland districts.\n\nThis was a rather curious beginning for a man so decidedly\nanti-militarist as Holberg was throughout his life. In his\nautobiography, published in Latin in 1727,[1] he makes fun of the\nepisode, describing his transformation from a petty officer into a\nprofessor of philosophy as \"a sort of Ovidian metamorphosis which might\nexpose me to the risk of being sent back from my professorial chair to\nthe camp, if the authorities were disposed to question my\nqualifications.\"\n\nNotwithstanding this, his appointment as petty officer was to become of\nimportance to him. As soon as he got his commission he left Bergen for\nthe midland counties--a remarkable journey at that time, by sea and\nland, through a great part of West and Mid Norway--until he finally\narrived at the Fron Vicarage, one of the finest places in the valley of\nGudbrandsdalen and at present one of our most popular tourist districts.\nThe vicar of Fron, who was his relation on his mother's side, soon\ndiscovered his remarkable abilities, his passion for literature, in\nwhich he had already made some trifling attempts, and last but not\nleast, his gift for languages.\n\nThe two years which Holberg subsequently spent at Fron have, until a\nquite recent date, been practically unnoticed by Holberg students, but\nit is easy to see that they form an interesting link in the chain of\nevents connected with his life. His schooldays at Fron were not pleasant\nto him, for the assistant master, who had to take care of the boys, was\nrather inferior as a teacher. His Latin was bad, his views narrow and\npedantic, his chief instrument of instruction the birch, of which he\nmade assiduous application. Holberg, who rather early reacted\ninstinctively and strongly to all strokes of spontaneousness, very soon\nconceived a deep dislike and contempt for these pedagogic methods, and\nhis power of reflection made its combinations and conclusions. Latin and\npedantry became to a certain extent synonymous notions to him, and it\nwas to be one of his pleasures as a writer to record and hand over to\nderision the whole system of travestied learning which was one of the\ncharacteristic features of his age.\n\nThis was the negative aspect of his sojourn at the Fron Vicarage. Its\npositive aspect was the time he spent in the library of the vicarage,\nwhere, among a number of Greek and Latin classics, he also found several\nmodern foreign books, including some Bibles in English and French, an\nEnglish and a French dictionary, a French grammar, and an English\nreader, with colloquial sentences--rather a curious collection of books\nfor a Norwegian inland county towards the end of the seventeenth\ncentury. These books, as far as we know, were the first specimens of\nEnglish and French literature which he ever saw, but he was fascinated\nby them. They were to him messages from the great marvellous world\nhundreds of miles beyond the mountains by which he was surrounded. Do\nyou wonder that he was longing and dreaming, silent and solitary as he\nwas by disposition?\n\nBut he was not dreaming only. Being a quick observer of things\nsurrounding him, we may infer that he was deeply impressed by the\ncustoms and manners of the peasants among whom he lived, their cool,\nunobtrusive way of behaving themselves, their sound judgment, their\nmanual cleverness, their traditions, songs and fairy tales, and last but\nnot least, their dialect, with its peculiar words and phrases, so\ndecidedly different from his own Bergen tongue and way of speaking.\nIndeed, numerous passages in his works are stamped by obvious\nreminiscences from his Fron sojourn.\n\nAfter an absence which, in more respects than one, ripened him above his\nage, Holberg, in 1698, returned to Bergen, where he resumed his studies\nunder conditions which did not please him at all. During his absence the\ngrammar school of the city had been subjected to a thorough reform by an\nable manager, who was himself an ardent admirer of the classics.\nAccordingly, Latin more than ever became the chief subject of\ninstruction, the command of the language being laboriously aimed at by\nmeans of disputations which were at once linguistic exercises and a\nmedium of theological and metaphysical fencing.\n\nHolberg, who always felt himself alien to subtleties of this kind, was\ntherefore quite agreeable when very soon after the heavy fire at Bergen\nin 1702, which stands out as one of the most remarkable events in the\nannals of the city, he was sent to the University of Copenhagen, where\nhe passed his B.A. examination. He does not seem to have been favourably\nimpressed in any particular degree either by the capital itself or by\nthe conditions ruling at the University. Otherwise, in his reminiscences\nhe would hardly have passed by his life as a student in absolute\nsilence; on the other hand, Bergen, as she presented herself to him\ntowards the end of 1702 after he had been away for some seven or eight\nmonths, was certainly no cheery place, being still under the gloom of\nthe devastations of the fire. He therefore quite naturally availed\nhimself of the earliest opportunity of getting away.\n\nThe two following years of his life, but for a short stay at Copenhagen,\nwhere he completed his theological studies and attained a high degree,\nhe spent chiefly \"in flogging his pupils and converting Norwegian\nboors.\" This is a humorous expression of his for the way in which he\nperformed his duties as a tutor to the children of the vicar at\nVoss--now one of the best-known districts on the Bergen-Christiania\nRailway--and occasionally replaced him in the pulpit. By his own saying\nhe succeeded decidedly better as a preacher than as a tutor which, by\nthe way, does not say very much, as he never excelled in either of these\nfunctions. The chief interest connected with his stay at Voss is the\nfact that it strengthened his early Fron recollections of the peasants.\n\nWe are entitled to infer from his famous _Description of Bergen_, which\nappeared thirty-five years later, that he has taken a special interest\nin Voss, and that he has studied the history and the topography of the\ndistrict, and we hardly jump at conclusions in assuming that his\npopularity with the peasants was due, not to his sermons, but to the\nstraightforward, unpretending way in which he approached them. He\ncarried with him from Voss, as he had carried with him from Fron,\nfavourable impressions of the Norwegian peasantry to the manly qualities\nof whom he often returns in his writings.\n\nIn 1704 Holberg set out on the first of the five famous journeys which\nhe was to undertake to various parts of Europe within the next\ntwenty-two years. I shall not spend many words on this particular\njourney beyond the fact that he visited West Germany and Holland, which\nat that time were under the spell of the operations on the Western\nFront, for, as you remember, we find ourselves at that time at the\ncommencement of the Spanish War of Succession. It is sufficient to state\nthat the journey lasted about a year, and that Holberg, in the meantime,\nhad many chequered experiences; by way of example, that it is impossible\nfor a man with literary talents to get on at Amsterdam, where, to use\nhis own expression, \"trade occupies every man's thoughts, where\nphilosophy is at a discount, and where even men like Grotius and\nSalmasius have to give way to shipowners and merchants.\" He therefore\nultimately had to return to Norway, arriving in an exhausted condition\nat Christianssand, where he was assisted by a friend, Mr. Brix, whom he\nhappened to meet there. This friend kindly recommended Holberg to\nseveral of the principal inhabitants, and he very soon got a reputation\nas a teacher, especially in French, although--as he learnt on a later\noccasion in Paris--his French was not so perfect as the natives of\nChristianssand seemed to think.\n\nUnfortunately he very soon happened to raise the feminine world of the\ntown against himself. Full of irony as he was, and \"delighted with\neverything which had an air of novelty\"--as he describes himself--he was\ngreatly amused one day by coming across an anonymous pamphlet in which\nthe author endeavoured to prove, by sixty-four arguments, that women\nhave no soul. He promptly learned the chief arguments by heart, and took\nevery opportunity \"of broaching the paradox and of defending it with an\nearnestness proportioned to the zeal or indignation with which it was\nopposed.\" Finally, of course, he had to submit and to renounce his\nheresy, after which peace was restored. Holberg, who was very musical,\nand played excellently on the flute, was subsequently introduced to some\nof the most respected families in the town, where he seems to have been\nvery much appreciated. It will always be a matter of conjecture whether\nhe contracted at Christianssand, however temporarily, what has been\nstyled a \"heart rheumatism\"; but if so, the ladies of Christianssand\nhave had their revenge; their descendants may still be proud of the\ntribute which Holberg in his auto-biography pays to the accomplishments\nof their great-great grandmothers.\n\nIn the spring of 1706 Holberg left Christianssand, embarking for England\nat Arendal, the well-known neighbouring town, conspicuous even in those\ndays for its sea-faring reputation. I may, perhaps, in this connection,\ntake leave to observe that I am a native of that town, and often, when a\nboy, sailing out in my boat to the mouth of the harbour, where it opens\ntowards the horizon far away, or resting on one of the many islets\nduring the wonderful nights of the Norwegian summer, waiting for the\nearly fishing hours at sunrise, I would remind myself that these rocks\nand skerries outside of my native town were the last part of Norway on\nwhich Holberg looked back when, under the press of a fair wind, his\nswift barque carried him away to England, the fairyland of his westward\ndreams.\n\n  Adieu, adieu! my native shore\n    Fades o'er the water blue;\n  The night-winds sigh, the breakers roar,\n    And shrieks the wild sea mew.\n\nIt was Norway's \"Childe Harold\"--the most solitary figure in our\ncultural history--who was taking leave of his country, never to see her\nrugged shores and her magnificent inland sceneries again. There was,\nindeed, nothing poetical about him, for--as you know--the age was a\ndecidedly prosaic one, and Holberg, later in life, confessed that up to\nthe age of 30 \"he would yawn when he heard the finest piece of poetry\nread to him.\" Yet, as we can see him from our present vantage ground, he\nwas at that moment the embodiment of the genius of the Norwegian nation,\nwhich once more, as in the saga period, hoisted its sails for Western\nEurope, bold, eager of adventures, fascinated at the very thought of\ngetting away.\n\n\nII.\n\nI want to lay stress on the Norwegian origin and education of Holberg,\non his stay among our peasantry in two characteristic parts of the\ncountry, and also on the fact that he was over 21 when he left Norway\nfor ever. If these things were not indispensable for a fair conception\nof his lifework, I should certainly not have dwelt on them. Yet a few\nparticulars are still wanted to give a finishing touch to his portrait.\n\nHe set out in life with a delicate figure and an extremely youthful\nappearance, but in return he was possessed of some solid, staunch\nqualities which moulded him into a first-rate character. From his\nmother, whose family is still numerously represented in Norway, he had\ninherited a sound realism which made him firmly resolved to get a\nposition in life and to settle down comfortably on a fixed salary. From\nhis father, of whose family no trace is left among us, he had inherited\nwhat has been called the itinerary element of his nature--his passion\nfor travelling, initiated by his early Fron journey, his eagerness to\nsee foreign countries, to stroll about in the big cities, to pass along\nthe high roads from one country into another, covering extraordinary\ndistances--an energetic student, a haunter of libraries, always on the\nlook-out for new books, but above anything else, always and everywhere,\na keen observer of men and things, enriching himself with knowledge from\nthe fresh, inexhaustible sources of life.\n\nBesides this, he was a true son of Bergen, the most heterogeneous town\nof Norway--a sort of \"Noah's Ark,\" according to his own expression--with\na development of its own which, in the course of centuries, has made the\nnatives of Bergen differ considerably in views and manners from the rest\nof their countrymen. Even in our days these differences still make\nthemselves felt in some degree. All this you must bear in mind when you\nspeak about Holberg. The remarkable influence exercised upon him by\nBergen gives the clue to his personality--to his genius as a playwright,\nto his liberal views as an historian, to his clear, realistic reasoning\nas a philosopher. It is always Bergen, never Copenhagen, which is\nuppermost in his mind.\n\nHow excellently this young, highly-gifted Norwegian was prepared for a\nthorough appreciation of contemporary England!\n\nDuring the forty-six years which had passed since the Restoration of\n1660, England--as you will remember--had witnessed a period full of\npolitical and literary activity, but above all, remarkable for its\nprodigious advance in the field of science. This progress was, it is\ntrue, a matter of European rather than of English concern, but the\ninquiring spirit and the rationalist desire to get to the bottom of\nthings which were the hallmarks of the age were in no country developed\nmore strikingly than in England. Latin was still the language in which\nscientific works were written, but the Royal Society had already\nunfolded its national programme \"of bringing all things as near the\nmathematical plainness as possible, and of preferring the language of\nartisans, countrymen and merchants to that of wits and scholars.\"\n\nThe extraordinary events of the time also highly appealed to the\nreceptive mind of Holberg. When he arrived at Oxford in the spring of\n1706, in the company of his friend, Mr. Brix, England was in the midst\nof the Spanish War of Succession, of which--as we remember--he had got\nsome experiences on his Dutch journey. During a sojourn of nearly two\nyears, Holberg was a close observer of everything connected with the\ngreat war. It was not so easy at that time as during the recent\nArmageddon to get hold of the historical thread leading up to events and\nto explain the facts by way of arguments; but he was impressed by the\ndogged determination of the English in their heavy struggle against\nLouis XIV., and their unswerving belief in a victorious issue. He\nhimself never doubted that they would win the war, thanks to their\nsplendid resources no less than to the very principles for which they\nfought. In short, it is the prototype of the world's war by which we are\nconfronted--the Spirit of the West, the representative of the political\nand intellectual liberty of the future struggling against absolutism and\nall the reactionary powers of the past.\n\nAs a matter of course, Holberg was a staunch pro-ally, and besides this,\nhe was also highly interested in the political events of the day. The\nUnion between England and Scotland which took place during his stay at\nOxford, strikes him as one of the most important acts of statesmanship\nin any age--an event of far-reaching consequences--and he never gets\ntired of commenting upon it and of subjecting it to new investigations.\n\nI do not presume to think that I can tell you anything new concerning\nthe conditions ruling at this University at the commencement of the\neighteenth century, but some brief particulars in connection with\nHolberg's stay are of interest and importance for a fair understanding\nof the moulding influence of Oxford upon his character and genius.\n\nThroughout the seventeenth century an increasing number of students from\nDenmark and Norway had found their way to Oxford, \"the most noble\ntheatre and emporium to all good sciences,\" to quote a contemporary\nwriter. From 1602 to 1683 the famous _Liber Peregrinorum_, or Admission\nIndex, shows a total of 112 names of Danish and Norwegian origin; during\nthe next twenty years, up to 1708, their number was 60, of which 46 were\nDanes and 14 were Norwegians. These figures are interesting as an\nunmistakable proof of the growing intercourse between the Dano-Norwegian\nmonarchy and England, which by this time had commenced to make itself\ndecidedly felt in the field of commerce.\n\nFrom the commencement of the eighteenth century, London, the famous fire\nof which in 1666 had given a great impetus to the small timber ports of\nSouth-Eastern Norway, became a city of growing importance to our\ncountry. During their holidays the Norwegian Oxford students used to\nspend their time in London, where there was a numerous colony of Danes\nand Norwegians and a constant influx of seamen and merchants, especially\nfrom South Norway. It was not, therefore, altogether by chance that\nHolberg arrived in England. He sailed, in fact on the westward current\nof the time.\n\nOn their arrival at this University, April 18th, 1706, having covered\ntheir way from Gravesend to London, and from London to Oxford on foot,\nHolberg and his friend soon found out that their finances were at so low\nan ebb that before they could proceed with their studies they had to\nprovide for their domestic necessities. Fortunately Oxford was no\nparticularly expensive place at that time, \u00a340 a year being sufficient\nto pull a man through, and Holberg was always very economical, and\nunderstood remarkably well the difficult art of making both ends meet.\nYet their first months at Oxford were passed under very strained\nconditions until Mr. Brix succeeded in getting a supply of money from a\nbanker in London. In the meantime, they had raised the necessary funds\nthemselves by giving lessons in music and languages, and it is a\ncharacteristic evidence of Holberg's cleverness that, after the\ndeparture of his friend, which took place comparatively soon, he managed\nto study at Magdalen College for more than eighteen months, with no\nother money than that obtained through his lessons as master of\nlanguages and of the flute.\n\nThe more you try to sound the marvellous authorship of Holberg the more\nyou feel convinced of the importance of his stay at Oxford. It would\nrequire several lectures to trace the way in which his impressions and\nhis experiences of Oxford have moulded him as an historian, as a\nplaywright, as a philosopher and moralist. I can only tell you that he\ntook with him from this place to Copenhagen and to the Dano-Norwegian\ncommunity not only the conviction of his future mission, but practically\nthe very seeds of what should ripen into one of the richest crops in the\nfield of literature. If Macaulay had known Holberg he would have had to\ngive a somewhat different turn to his famous sentence: \"France has been\nthe intermediary between England and Mankind.\" Holberg visited England\ntwenty-five years before Voltaire and twenty-four years before\nMontesquieu, and brought back first hand views and impressions, sifted\nonly through the medium of his unbiassed mind.\n\nTo put it briefly, Holberg has been the intermediary between England and\nthe North.\n\nAt Oxford Holberg planned the work by which he started in literature in\n1711: _Introduction to the History of the European Kingdoms_,[2]\ncontaining a remarkable chapter on England and the English from the time\nof the Romans down to 1702, with quotations from various authors, among\nthem Milton, William Camden, and Lord Clarendon. This work, against\nwhich many objections have been raised and, to a certain extent, not\nunjustly, nevertheless is stamped by the characteristic features of his\ngenius, so familiar to all Holberg students--his original way of\nthinking, his contempt for all sorts of ostentatious learning blocking\nthe way by irrelevant facts, his plain language--vigorous, manly, with a\nturn of its own--his sound judgment, and perhaps, above all, the\ngenerally fair way in which he arraigns his persons before the tribunal\nof history.\n\nSumming up his impressions and reminiscences twenty years later, Holberg\nsays in his autobiography: \"_I confess that I have many reasons for\nconsidering myself under great obligations to the Oxonians._\"\n\nThis is no phrase of politeness. It is the opinion of a man whose\ncorrect and blameless demeanour, no less than his sincerity, his\nloyalty, and his intellectual abilities, had won him the appreciation of\nhis professors and the friendship of his fellow-students. His English\nwas excellent, and he does not conceal the fact that he is a bit proud\nof it. Indeed, it is somewhat of a sacrifice not to indulge in\nquotations from Holberg's autobiography--particularly so at the point at\nwhich we find ourselves now--for his description of his stay at Oxford\nis highly attractive, not only from a literary but a human point of\nview. Altogether his autobiography is a curiously fascinating work, of\nwhich no one will repent making the acquaintance. It ought to reappear\nin a modern English translation.\n\n\nIII.\n\nAfter an interesting decade the importance of which to the development\nof Holberg's genius cannot be over-rated we meet him in 1718 as\nProfessor of Metaphysics in Copenhagen University. After having left\nOxford in 1708 he had--to sum up the period as briefly as\npossible--spent his time in studies at home and in travels abroad. He\nnever revisited England, but he lived and rooted in the English world of\nthought, and whether in Germany, in Paris, in Rome, or at Copenhagen, he\nstudied and reasoned on the basis of his Oxford experiences. His\nprincipal work from this period, _Introduction to the Law of Nature and\nof Nations_, although little more than an abridgement of Pufendorf's\ngreat work on the same subject, is interesting as a proof of his\nindependent views and his patriotic ambitions as an historian.\n\nIt would be an exaggeration unworthy of the reserved way in which\nHolberg used to express himself, to say that he owed everything to\nEngland. He was certainly also highly indebted to France. Setting apart\nwhat he owes to Holland, Germany and Italy, I think we may square the\ndebt by saying that while England moulded his character and gave the\nfirst impetus to his genius as an historian, France chiefly contributed\nto the unfolding of his genius as a humorous writer. He is the Moli\u00e8re\nof the North and, no doubt, one of the greatest dramatic authors ever\nborn.\n\nIn 1719 Holberg's genius, which, until then, had kept strictly within\nthe rules prescribed by his professorship, apparently cool and\nindifferent to the outside world, suddenly burst into a fit of laughter\nwhich resounded through the North. This was his immortal heroic poem,\n_Peder Paars_, which appeared in the autumn of 1719, and which marks\nnothing less than a new era in Norwegian and Danish literature.\n\n_Peder Paars_, like Ibsen's _Peer Gynt_, the only parallel in our\nliterature, is written in verse. Ibsen's rhymes are stamped by his\nmastership of form, and move in shifting stanzas according to the\nrequirements of the situation and the emotion they are intended to\ncreate. Holberg walks throughout his poem on the high-heeled\nAlexandrines of the age. _Peer Gynt_ is the embodiment of the Norwegian\nsoul--Norway, as seen from within. _Peder Paars_ is the central gallery\nof contemporary Denmark, with all its queer figures--Denmark, as seen\nfrom without. That is why Holberg could never have written _Peder Paars_\nif he had been born and bred a Dane. He had to be an outsider to get the\nright perspective.\n\nThe gist of the poem is quickly told. Peder Paars, a plain Danish\ncitizen of a provincial town, wants to visit his sweetheart at some\nother provincial town a few miles off. He has to go by sea, of course,\nfor Denmark, as you know, is pre-eminently a country composed of isles,\nand, like Odysseus and Aeneas, he has some mighty enemies among the\nimmortal gods who will not allow him to complete his very reasonable\njourney. He is shipwrecked and washed ashore with his followers on\nAnholt, the very smallest of all Danish isles. His experiences in this\nplace form the chief part of the poem, for in this little,\nout-of-the-way island Holberg gives us, as it were, contemporary Denmark\nin a nutshell. Finally, the goddess of love pities him; he succeeds in\nmaking his escape from Anholt, and arrives subsequently at Jutland,\nwhere he has another series of remarkable experiences. Like Peer Gynt,\nhe is put into a mad-house, but some time afterwards he is released and\nis escorted in triumph out of town. The last glimpse we get of him is\nwhere he is made a soldier and has to strip himself of all he is\npossessed of in order to be set free and become a civilian again. Here\nthe poem ends abruptly, unfinished, as if the author has got tired; but\nthe torso stands out as the work of a genius, and for two centuries it\nhas stood the test of time and towers still as one of the most imposing\nworks of fiction in Northern literature.\n\nHolberg had a double purpose with _Peder Paars_. By the form he chose he\nintended to aim a decisive blow at the learned apparatus of classic\npoetry as we meet it, especially in Homer and Virgil. There was at that\ntime a lively discussion going on in England and France as to whether\nclassic or modern poetry ought to be preferred, and both views had their\neager advocates and opponents. Holberg, as you may easily imagine, sided\nwith the defenders of modern literature, partly because, being a true\nson of the age to which he belonged, he was as indifferent to the fresh\noriginality of Homer as he was untouched by the high-sounding imitation\nof Virgil, and in his poem he mixes them up in a most disrespectful way.\n\nWhat is considerably more important to us than the form of his poem is,\nhowever, the substance of it. The former belongs to the taste of an age\nwhich has disappeared long ago; the latter is--as I have already\nsuggested--a cultural portrait of contemporary Denmark, and at the same\ntime a marvellous gallery full of human characters, stamped by the\neternal mark of life itself. Holberg, like Hamlet, was of opinion that\nthere was \"something rotten in the state of Denmark,\" and he made up his\nmind to set her right by the sound cure of irony. He could have chosen\nno better remedy; for, in fact, the community in which he found himself\nwas not disgraced by vices which preyed on the very pith of the nation\nand endangered its future. The chief fault with it was that owing to a\ndevelopment which forms a highly-interesting chapter in the cultural\nhistory of the country--but which it would take too long to\ndetail--Denmark, as Holberg found her two centuries ago, was about to be\nstifled by an atmosphere of pedantry, humbug, hypocrisy and unsound\nambition. Surrounded by laws and orders in council which interfered with\ntheir daily life in the most foolish way and increased the number of\nmisdemeanants, the Danish people was about to lose its self-respect and\nabsorb itself in an indiscriminate imitation of foreign nations.\nHolberg's keen glance pierced through all this foolery into the very\ndepth of the national character. He saw that the Danish people was sound\nat the core, and he therefore merrily divested it of one piece of these\nmasquerade garments after the other. He wanted to show the people among\nwhich he lived that life is truth, not humbug, and that instead of the\ncomfortable advice: Disguise! hide! there is the more noble appeal: Be\nthyself, and fear not!\n\nThere is a whole literature on _Peder Paars_ in Norwegian and Danish,\nand it is only fair to say that opinions of the critics vary as to the\nintrinsic value of the different parts of the poem from a literary point\nof view. On the other hand, full credit is given to the poem from a\ncultural standpoint. Generally speaking, _Peder Paars_ is not only the\nfirst dazzling display of Holberg's genius as a humorous and satirical\nwriter; it also reveals him as the future playwright, who within a few\nyears was to send pit, boxes and galleries into fits of laughter.\n\nIndeed, we may ask the question: Was there ever in any country a\nprofessor of metaphysics with so adequate a store of humour and with a\nmore irresistible fancy to display it?\n\n\nIV.\n\nHolberg as a dramatic author is certainly one of the most interesting\nchapters in the history of Norwegian and Danish literature, and none has\nbeen subjected to a more searching examination.\n\nIt is admitted by all critics that he is indebted to the famous\nplaywrights of ancient Rome--Plautus and Terentius--and he certainly\nalso owes something to the Italian comedy with which he had become\nacquainted both in Italy and in Paris. His relation to Moli\u00e8re whom he\nadmired very much has been a matter of discussion, even in France, and\nthere are in some of his plays characters and scenes which remind one of\nthe English dramatists of the Restoration. But he never stooped to mere\nimitation. The comedies which have established his fame all bear the\nindelible stamp of his originality and of his genius.\n\nLet us take a short review of some of the most famous of his comedies.\n\nFirst you make the acquaintance of the _Tinker Politician_--a typical\nrepresentative of the time, so occupied with speculations and\ndiscussions on public affairs that he has no time to look after his own\ntrade. It consequently goes from bad to worse. He is the central figure\nin a self-appointed board of Blue-Apron Politicians--a saddler, a\ncutler, a wig-maker, and so on. They are over head and ears in politics,\ndiscussing the events of the Spanish War of Succession, giving advice to\nPrince Eug\u00e8ne and the Duke of Marlborough or denouncing their\ndispositions, while expounding the most startling historical theories\nand making the most absurd geographical assertions. They are also\neagerly taking down their own authorities.\n\nHolberg has been so cautious as to make Hamburg the scene of his comedy,\nfor it would certainly not have been tolerated if the action had been\nmade to take place at Copenhagen. Some of the remarks made by the\ncharacters of the play have, therefore, retained a wonderful actuality.\nBy way of example: \"Indeed, those people don't see what is to the true\nbenefit of Germany.\" Replacing the word Germany by the word Denmark we\nsee, however, the homely, eighteenth-century address quite clearly.\n\nIn the third act the _Tinker Politician_ is most unexpectedly appointed\nBurgomaster of Hamburg--a sham appointment, of course, arranged by some\npersons who wish to play a practical joke on him in order to put his\nremarkable political qualities and his much-boasted administrative\nfaculties to the test. It need hardly be said that his burgomastership\nwhich, by the way, only lasts twenty-four hours, filled up with constant\nembarrassments, disillusionments and mortifications, finally turns out a\ncomplete failure. He is just about to hang himself in a fit of despair\nwhen he is informed of the joke which has been played upon him. He\nrejoices in his good luck, denounces his political vanity in a verse\nwhich has become classic, and the moral of which may be expressed in the\nold proverb: \"The shoemaker should stick to his last.\"\n\nIn another play we meet _Jean de France_, a Copenhagen cousin of _The\nGentleman Dancing Master_, as Wycherly presents him in one of his\nwittiest plays. His name is Hans Frandsen, a Danish family name--plain\nand unpretentious. But Hans has been ten weeks in Paris and has returned\nwith his name translated. He mixes his Danish with French words and\nphrases in the most ridiculous way, trespassing against all the rules of\nFrench Grammar. He quite impresses his father and mother by his\nhigh-sounding name, his Parisian manners, and his _air de grand\nseigneur_, but his would-be father-in-law informs him very plainly that\nhe is an old-fashioned Danish citizen who means to stand no nonsense,\nand who will never give his daughter to a fool. Through a practical joke\nplayed upon Jean de France by means of the clever maid servant, who\npretends to have left Paris for Copenhagen with the sole purpose of\nseeing him and enjoying his company, his ridiculousness is so amply\nproved that he ultimately resolves to shake off the dust of Denmark from\nhis feet and return to fair France. The moral of the play may be\nexpressed in the old saying: All is not gold that glitters--and the\nsubstance of it is to serve as a warning against the bad custom of the\ntime of sending young people abroad before they have developed the\nnecessary amount of self-knowledge and commonsense to profit by their\nstay.\n\nIn _Jacob von Thyboc_ or _The Bragging Soldier_, we meet a\nhighly-developed specimen of \"the military fool.\" I think this comedy\nstands out as one of the most daring attacks in any literature on the\nmilitary profession. It is a picture of early eighteenth-century\nmilitarism in its worst form, redeemed by no sympathetic feature, the\nDanish army being at that time practically flooded by German officers,\nbragging and swearing, mixing German and Danish in the most horrible\nway, scolding and flogging their soldiers, but at the emergency cowards,\neager to save their skins.\n\nAs a matter of course, Holberg also introduces to us what we may call\n\"the Latin fool.\" His name is _Erasmus Montanus_--an unsurpassable\ntranslation of the plain Danish name, Rasmus Berg. He exhibits his\nlearning as a constant display of paradoxes and gives only one evidence\nof sound judgment and insight. Erasmus is capable of proving that his\nmother is a stone, because a stone cannot fly, nor can his mother; but\nas the poor peasant woman gets afraid of this astounding metamorphosis\nand already thinks her legs are turning cold, he graciously comforts her\nby the assurance that she can think and speak, which a stone cannot.\n\"Consequently you are no stone, mother!\" He can also prove by several\narguments that children are entitled to thrash their old parents, one of\nthe arguments being that you have to restore what has been bestowed upon\nyou. It serves him right when the whole parish finally rises against\nhim, not because of all these foolish assertions, but because of the\nonly theory in which he is perfectly right, and which he proves by fair\narguments, that of the earth being round. On this point he has to give\nin and admit that the earth is flat like a pancake--the only condition\non which the father of his sweetheart will give his consent to the\nmarriage.\n\nIn the _Lying-in Room_, a most curious portrait of contemporary customs\nand manners in connection with such a daily event as the birth of a\nchild--we find ourselves in a female gallery, unsurpassed in any\nliterature for variety, liveliness and realism. It might be worthy of a\nwhole lecture on what would certainly prove a highly interesting\nsubject: Holberg and the Fair Sex.\n\nMay I finally mention as perhaps the most deeply human of all his\ncomedies, _Jeppe on the Hill_ or _The Transformed Peasant_. It is a\nrepresentation of a practical joke played on a poor peasant who is found\nin a field near the high road, senselessly intoxicated. He is\nsubsequently brought to the mansion, put into his lordship's bed and\ngarbed with his lordship's finest nightshirt. He awakes and believes\nhimself in Paradise, is treated as a Lord by the real owner of the\nmansion whose sham servility makes him behave himself insolently, and is\nonce more intoxicated and replaced where he was found in his old dirty\nclothes. He is then accused of intrusion and violent behaviour at the\nmansion, sentenced formally to death, and subjected, when asleep, under\nthe influence of a drug, to a sham execution, the rope being fastened\nunder his arms instead of round his neck. He is finally lowered from the\ngallows, and brought back to life by the same authorities who have\nsentenced him to death, after which he is dismissed with a few\nshillings--and the bitter conviction that he has been treated as a\nplaything by the Lord of the mansion.\n\nThe low social level of the Danish peasantry in Holberg's days which\ncontrasted so unfavourably with the social standing of the Norwegian\npeasants; the state of drunkenness to which they stooped in consequence\nof the physical and moral humiliations to which they were subjected, and\nwhich they wished to forget; the commonsense and keen power of\nreflection of which they nevertheless were possessed and to which\nHolberg has paid the famous tribute: \"I never speak with peasants\nwithout learning something from them\"--all this has combined to make\nJeppe perhaps the most famous person in the Holberg gallery, conquering\ngeneration after generation by his inexhaustible flow of life.\n\nIt has justly been said by the famous Danish poet, Oehlenschlaeger\n(1779-1850) that if we might imagine that every document and record\nbearing upon Denmark at the commencement of the eighteenth century\nsuddenly vanished from the earth with the sole exception of Holberg's\ncomedies, it would yet be possible to reconstruct the Danish community\nof the time on the basis of them. This assertion is no exaggeration, but\nnevertheless it only contains a half truth.\n\nIn their outward appearance Holberg's comedies are Danish--customs and\nmanners, names and scenery being contemporary Danish portraits hailing\nfrom Copenhagen or from the province--but from within they are\nunmistakably Norwegian. In fact, the typical characters of the Holberg\ngallery are not only his compatriots; they are natives of Bergen like\nhimself. The old-fashioned gentleman, Jeronimus, narrow-minded, but\npossessed of a solid stock of commonsense which will stand no nonsense\nfrom the younger generation; his wife Magdelone, who has some\nrecollections of a merry youth and is not altogether proof against\nrelapses into former extravagances; Henrik, the clever servant with the\never-inventive brain, the champion of the rights of youth; Pernille, the\nwitty chamber-maid, alternately impertinent and obsequious, but always\nbeaming with mirth, sure of a safe, however narrow, escape--every one of\nthem, as well as a number of less important characters, are stamped by\ntheir own dear, queer town. You may even meet them in the streets of\nBergen to-day. It was not therefore by chance that the national stage of\nNorway was founded at Bergen in the middle of the nineteenth century.\nThe city in which Holberg was born and in which his persons moved about\nin life, quite naturally became the birthplace of the Norwegian scenic\nart, and it is the lasting honour of the actors and actresses of the\n_Bergen National Stage_--still the official name of the theatre of the\ncity--to have contributed to build up a Holberg tradition, which has\nbeen further developed by actors and actresses from other parts of the\ncountry, chiefly at the Christiania Theatre and its artistic heir the\nNational Theatre at Christiania.\n\n\nV.\n\nIn 1728 Copenhagen was devastated by a fire, the extent of which,\ncomparatively speaking, can only be likened to the famous fire of London\nsixty-two years earlier, to which I have already made a reference. In\nits consequences, it was even more far-reaching. It closes a chapter of\nhigh political and cultural interest in the history of the\nDano-Norwegian monarchy, and opens a new one, imbued with an entirely\ndifferent spirit, the characteristic features of which were Pietism and\nGermanism. Denmark, and more especially Copenhagen, became an\nintellectual province of Germany, customs and manners being stamped by\nthe new religious movement, and ordinary life surrounded by a serenity\nwhich closed the door on all pleasures and enjoyments. It goes without\nsaying that theatrical performances were considered most sinful, and\nthat, even if the national stage had not had to go into bankruptcy some\nyears before the fire, playgoing would have been promptly forbidden\nalong with balls, masquerades, and other public and private\nentertainments.\n\nUnder these circumstances Holberg who, not long ago had published his\nautobiography as a sort of apology--a literary event which, for various\nreasons, has been very much discussed by Holberg students--had to give\nup his activity as a playwright and turn to a work more in conformity\nwith his position as a professor in the University of Copenhagen. But\nbefore he did so, he felt it his duty to inform the public that he was\nthe author of the comedies which had hitherto appeared under the\nfictitious name of a citizen of a provincial town. He certainly did not\ntell the public anything new by this information, but he impressed it\nfavourably and, what is more important still, he has profited by it in\nthe eyes of posterity. We are pleased to learn, through the authority of\nHolberg himself on the eve of his long silence as a playwright, that he\nadmits the authorship of his immortal comedies in face of enemies whose\nmachinations might have overthrown him from behind, if he had not turned\nround to meet them and confronted them with an open visage.\n\nIn 1730 Holberg was appointed Professor of History, and for the next\nsixteen years, covering the whole of the reign of Christian VI., he\ndisplays the activity of an historian, an essayist, and a philosophical\nwriter--another proof of the remarkable versatility of his genius.\nWithin recent years this phase of Holberg's authorship has been\nsubjected to a close and interesting examination, especially by\nNorwegian Holberg students, and many valuable features, adding to the\ncorrectness of Holberg's portrait as an author and as a man, have been\nestablished beyond doubt. His historical works, obsolete though they are\nand superseded by modern contributions, are imbued with the same spirit\nas _Peder Paars_ and the _Comedies_. In his _History of Denmark_\n(I.-III.) his greatest and most mature work; in his _Description of\nDenmark and Norway_; in his _Description of Bergen_; in his _General\nHistory of the Church_; in his _History of Heroes_ and in his _History\nof Heroines_, to mention only the most important historical works of\nthis part of his life, in all of them we discover the same qualities\nwhich struck us as characteristic features in his first work, deepened\nby his experiences and sharpened by his superior faculty of observation.\nIn particular, we notice the light thread of irony running through the\nwhole tissue of his reflection and composition, stamping argument and\nstyle alike by the irresistible humour of his genius. It is as if the\nplaywright is constantly casting a glance on the manuscript over the\nshoulder of the historian, and as if merry Thalia always takes a fancy\nto tease her serene sister Kalliope.\n\nIn the midst of his learned studies Holberg, in a relapse, as it were,\nto his former satirical humour, surprised the public by a work which\nvery soon got international reputation. It appeared at Leipzig in 1741,\nin Latin, under the title of _Nicolai Klimii Iter Subterraneum_, and was\npromptly translated into a number of European languages, among them\nEnglish. The first English translation of _Niels Klim_ dates from 1742;\nthe next from 1828.[3] It ought to reappear in a new translation, and be\nincluded among the World's Classics, for next to _Gulliver's Travels_\nthere is hardly a work in any literature to which it can be adequately\ncompared.\n\nNiels Klim is a Norwegian student--from Bergen, course--who, after\nhaving taken his degrees at the University of Copenhagen, both in\ntheology and philosophy, has \"returned penniless from the temple of the\nMuses, like all other Norwegian students.\" Strolling about one day among\nthe hills which surround the city, he comes across a big cavern,\nremarkable \"from time immemorial\" for a continual groaning caused by the\ncirculation of the air which is being drawn into the hole and again\nexpelled. He makes up his mind to investigate the phenomenon and a few\ndays later, assisted by four labourers, with rope and boat-hooks he\nmakes his descent, being lowered gently down the centre of the hole.\nUnfortunately the rope suddenly snaps when he is only 12 feet down, and\nin the midst of a thick darkness Mr. Klim, with tremendous rapidity,\nfalls straight through the globe until he ultimately finds himself\nperfectly unhurt on another planet. He is startled at discovering that\nthe inhabitants of the country, the name of which is _Potu_, are walking\ntrees, moving about with an extreme slowness and gravity. He afterwards\nfinds out that the mental qualities of the Potuites are in every respect\nin conformity with their outward appearance.\n\nPotu is England, as Holberg saw it--and wished to see it--and in the\nlocal description of it we quickly discover scenes of an unmistakable\nEnglish kind. The Potuites are possessed of a highly conservative\ntemper, but at the same time they are imbued with a true liberal spirit,\nwhich makes their institutions, customs and manners--in short, their\ncommunity as a whole--contrast favourably with the communities of\ncontemporary Europe.\n\nIn Potu there are no religious quarrels, because the whole creed of the\npopulation is contained in a few, easily intelligible, and very concise\nsentences. There are no \"suffragettes\" either, to use a modern term, for\nthe women enjoy all the rights which among the European nations, are\nbestowed upon men alone. A highly esteemed widow holds the office of\nMinister of Finance; an elderly unmarried lady is Chief Justice--both to\nthe perfect satisfaction of their compatriots. The sciences taught at\nthe academies of Potu are History, Economy, Mathematics and\nJurisprudence. Medicine is considered superfluous, as an academic\nscience, owing to the temperate and regular habits of the Potuites,\nwhile Metaphysics is strictly prohibited, those inclined to such studies\nbeing promptly banished to the interior of the firmament. The government\nof Potu is based upon the principles of absolutism, but as the Princes\nalways rule strictly in accordance with the principle of justice and\nthere is a perfect equality among the citizens--all ranks and titles\nhaving been abolished centuries ago--the Potuites are very pleased with\nthe state of public affairs and do not want any change. It is not\nabsolutely prohibited to make proposals tending to change the existing\nconditions, but reformers had better take care before launching their\nproposals, for if they are deemed futile by the commission appointed to\nconsider them, the schemer is sure to be hanged.\n\nMr. Klim, who is considered too versatile to hold any office of\nimportance in the Principality of Potu, is vexed to see himself\nentrusted with the office of a royal courier, for which the Potuites\nfind him excellently fitted owing to his fast legs. In this capacity he\ntravels all over the principality, having a number of remarkable\nexperiences, visiting, among other places, the famous site of learning\nof Keba, the subterraneous Oxford. Unfortunately, Mr. Klim cannot\ncontrol his European ambition as a reformer, but owing to his foreign\norigin and his inexperience, he escapes the gallows and is expelled\ninstead. He subsequently arrives in the Republic of Martinia, the\ninhabitants of which form the most complete contrast to the Potuites.\nThe Martinians are apes, and in their country, which, as can easily be\nseen, is meant to be a sort of underground France, everything goes with\na tremendous speed. Proposals and schemes of every kind are flying\nabout; the number of schemers is unlimited; innovations are hailed with\nrapture, their popularity being always in proportion to their\nfoolishness. Mr. Klim becomes the hero of Martinia and is considered a\ntrue benefactor of the nation when he invents the wig, which is promptly\nadopted by the Martinians. Unfortunately a Martinian lady, the wife of\none of the most prominent men of the Republic, falls in love with him,\nand as he declines her advances, her love is changed into hatred and she\ngets him banished from the country.\n\nAfter a series of remarkable adventures Mr. Klim ultimately lands in\nQuama, the inhabitants of which are human beings at a very low level of\ncivilisation, among whom he appears in the quality of a reformer. In\nQuama he discovers a highly interesting manuscript, the work of a\nQuamite, describing his experiences in a European journey. It is a\nfirst-rate eighteenth century satire on European conditions and the\ncustoms and manners of the principal countries of Europe. Even here\nHolberg's predilection for England does not fail. The English, I think\nyou will be pleased to learn, are let off most easily. Like his\ncountryman, Peer Gynt, a century later, though under somewhat different\nconditions, Mr. Klim ultimately is chosen Emperor by the Quamites, but\nthis proves to be too much for him. His ambition very soon passes all\nreasonable limits and his reign only knows the two alternatives:\nWorld-power or Downfall. It need hardly be said that the latter becomes\nthe natural issue, and as a dethroned monarch he has to hide himself in\na deep cavern to escape the rage of his embittered subjects, whom he has\nutterly duped and destroyed. Suddenly he loses his footing and falls\nwith a tremendous rapidity through the earth the opposite way to that by\nwhich he arrived on the underground planet. He naturally lands again\noutside of Bergen and ends his days as a modest parish clerk, although\nnever forgetting that once upon a time he used to be an Underground\nEmperor.\n\nNiels Klim is, no doubt, the highest revelation of Holberg's genius. We\nfind in it all the humour of _Peder Paars_ and the _Comedies_; his sound\njudgment and his keenness of observation as an historian; his\nbroad-mindedness as a philosopher; his tolerance as a moralist. As a\nwork of fiction, it yields to none in exuberant phantasy, and the\nimperturbable calmness of the argument and of the style only adds to its\nworth.\n\nIn 1746 the reign of Pietism came to an end on the death of Christian\nVI. The accession to the throne of his frivolous, intemperate son,\nFrederick V., whose first wife was a daughter of George II., inaugurated\na new era. All gates of enjoyment were at once thrown open. Hymn-books\nand Bibles were flung away, and people crowded to theatres, masquerades,\ndancing halls and other entertainments. Holberg's dramatic vein began to\nflow again after a twenty years' ebb, but the comedies of his closing\nyears can in no way be compared to those which he produced in the\nhey-day of his life. More valuable to us than these comedies is the\nseries of smaller essays in the form of _Epistles_ (five volumes), and\n_Moral Thoughts_ (two volumes), which he wrote in these years along with\na number of minor, and we may also say, inferior works. These volumes\nare still a rich source of information to Holberg students. In none of\nhis works do we get a more intimate personal acquaintance with him. We\nlearn to know him in his modest, lonely, every-day life; his sympathies\nand his antipathies; \"the anfractuosities of his mind and of his\ntemper,\" which were certainly no less obvious than Samuel Johnson's; his\ncorporal frailties; his mental recreations. He is, in a certain way, his\nown Boswell--less obtrusive, however, and, as a consequence, more\nconcise. There is no subject so insignificant that he thinks it below\nhis dignity to discuss it; there is none so exalted that he refrains\nfrom expressing his opinion upon it. He tells us as willingly why he\nprefers a cat to a dog, and what a real shoemaker ought to know--as he\ntells us his opinion on God and eternity; the destination of man and the\nsupposed greatness of the popular heroes of history whom, by the way, he\nis more inclined to consider as the mischief makers of mankind and the\nsquanderers of its economic wealth. Through the whole of this wonderful\ncollection of essays we breathe what Hamlet would call \"the eager and\nthe nipping air\" of originality, invigorating by its draught of\ncommonsense and moral responsibility. We easily forgive him that some\nof his views are obsolete, for in other respects he is far ahead of his\ntime, and by his unbiassed attitude leaves even the most advanced\nspirits of his age behind him.\n\nHow splendidly--only to mention one example--he is able to grasp a\ncharacter like that of Cromwell! At a time when Cromwell was generally\nconsidered one of the most abominable personalities in history and a\ndisgrace to his nation; when Hume and Voltaire vied with each other in\nmisunderstanding him, both being of opinion that Cromwell's character\nwas broadly that of a shrewd and daring hypocrite,[4] Holberg was no\nless convinced of the true genius of the Protector than of his personal\ngood faith and of his patriotic ambition.\n\n\"The greatest gifts of nature,\" he says, \"every one of which would make\na man prominent in comparison with others were, to an equal degree,\nconcentrated in Cromwell. He seems to have received something from all\nnations, for one saw in him Italian shrewdness and cunning, French\nswiftness, English courage and Spanish firmness. He founded his fabric\nwith cunning; he puts his machine in action with rapidity; by his\ncourage he was victorious everywhere.... It may be said that his\nwonderful deeds and his great name were sufficient to keep his internal\nand external enemies in subjection, for as he was hated by all, so he\nwas also admired by all.... Cromwell ranks with those few men whom\nnature seems to have exhausted herself in moulding.\"[5]\n\nI think you will admit that this is an extraordinary tribute to the\nmemory of the Protector, considering that it was written in 1749 by a\nloyal subject of an absolute monarch, who had to weigh his words\ncarefully when speaking about a regicide. Anyhow, Holberg's essay is the\nfirst scientific rehabilitation of Cromwell before Carlyle.\n\nFive years later--energetic and active as ever and, above all,\nremarkably receptive to the new ideas of the time, and eager to subject\nthem to a close examination--Holberg quietly breathed his last. He died\non January 28th, 1754, at the age of 69, in his city residence at\nCopenhagen. Lonely as he had been in life, his death was barely noticed,\nand a few years later one of his more intelligent contemporaries remarks\nwith regret, that he seems to be almost entirely forgotten. Holberg\ncertainly did not expect anything in the way of public mourning and\nofficial obsequies on the part of the community in which he felt himself\nan alien, and upon the mind of which the greatness of his lifework had\nnot yet dawned; but even what may be called the decorum of indifference\nwas absent on this occasion.\n\nYet time has brought its revenge. Before the expiration of the\neighteenth century Holberg's work was in a fair way to being\nacknowledged. From the 'thirties of last century it rose rapidly in\nesteem. The bi-centenary jubilee of his birth, which was celebrated all\nover Norway and Denmark on December 3rd, 1884, gave a lasting impetus to\nhis fame. His commanding position in literature was established for all\ntime.\n\nIn his article on Holberg in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ (Vol.\nXIII.), Mr. Edmund Gosse justly says: \"Holberg was, with the exception\nof Voltaire, the first writer in Europe in two generations. Neither Pope\nnor Swift, who perhaps exceeded him in particular branches of\nliterature, approached him in range of genius or in encyclopaedic\nversatility. Holberg found Denmark\"--Mr. Gosse might have added _and\nNorway_--\"without books. He wrote a library for her\" (_i.e._,\n_them_) ... \"He filled the shelves of the citizens with works in their\nown tongue ... all written in a true and manly style and representing\nthe extreme attainment of European culture at the moment.\"\n\nIn this appreciation we all heartily agree. Therefore, wherever you go\nin Denmark and Norway Holberg's name is familiar. Words and sayings of\nhis live on the lips of both nations as colloquial terms. He sits in\nbronze in an arm-chair outside the main entrance of the Royal Theatre at\nCopenhagen; his noble sepulchre is at Soroe, a dreaming little site of\nlearning in Zeeland. He looks down from his pedestal upon the busy life\nof the Bergen fishmarket, leaning upon his walking stick as if he was\nabout to make a remark. Over the portico of the National Theatre at\nChristiania, facing the square, his name is inscribed in golden letters\nbetween those of Ibsen and Bj\u00f6rnson. It is the ambition of all comic\nactors in Norway and Denmark to appear in one of the chief characters of\nhis immortal gallery. He is in high favour with the public, who applaud\nhim with mirth and laughter; he is the pride of his townsmen, who\ncherish his memory in a special _Holberg Club_. And in the silent\nlibraries students carefully turn over the leaves of his works to find\nout new aspects of his genius and of his personality. In fact, the\nHolberg literature is increasing year by year.\n\nYet there is one thing wanting. He must be better known abroad,\nespecially in this country. He must become one of the world's classics\nand find his way to the book-shelves of British homes.\n\nMore than seventy years ago _Welhaven_, one of the greatest Norwegian\npoets of the nineteenth century, in a noble poem summed up the position\nof Holberg and our obligation to him in a verse which may be rendered\nthus in English:\n\n  _And therefore, like a gem with precious gleam,\n  His name shall live in high and old esteem,\n  And Northern men with tender care shall save\n  His noble image from oblivion's grave._\n\nI have only a few words to add to these stanzas. Just as we Norwegians\nhave learnt to look upon Ludvig Holberg--in no other light we want you\nEnglish to see him. He is one of the highest revelations of the Spirit\nof the West and, at the same time, the most precious link in the ancient\nchain of sympathy between England and Norway.\n\n\n\n\nHOLBERG LITERATURE AND HOLBERG STUDENTS.\n\n(BRIEF SUMMARY.)\n\n\nNotwithstanding the many highly interesting works both in Norwegian and\nDanish bearing upon the importance and the position of Holberg, no\ncomplete _Life of Holberg_ has as yet been written in either language.\nWe are entitled to ask the question: Will there ever be an adequate one?\n\nAs far as Norway is concerned, the most important Holberg students of\nthe nineteenth century are: Olaf Skavlan (1838-1891); Ludvig Daae\n(1834-1910), and J. E. Sars (1835-1917), all of whom were professors in\nthe University of Christiania. In the same connection may be mentioned\nHenrik J\u00e6ger (1854-1895), the author of the well-known _Illustreret\nNorsk Literaturhistoric_, in the first volume of which there is a\nvaluable outline of Holberg's life and works along with a short\nreference to the Holberg literature (down to 1896), not only in the\nNorwegian, Danish and Swedish languages, but also in German.\n\nAmong the Norwegian Holberg students of to-day, Mr. Viljam Olsvig, M.A.,\nholds the most conspicuous place. In a number of works published within\nthe last twenty odd years, largely bearing upon the connection between\nHolberg and England, he may fairly be said to have given a new impetus,\nand even a new turn, to the study of Holberg. Messrs. Francis Bull,\nPh.D., and Sigurd H\u00f6st, M.A., have, within the last few years, thrown\nnew light on Holberg as an historian; at the same time, the Rev. Ludvig\nSelmer has subjected Holberg's moral and religious conception of life to\na close and interesting examination. Messrs. Just Bing, Ph.D., and\nNordahl Olsen, a Bergen editor, have added valuable information to our\nformer knowledge of Holberg in connection with his native town.\n\nThe contributions of Denmark to the Holberg literature are entitled to a\nfair acknowledgment on the part of Norway, and we certainly are greatly\nindebted both to the Danish Holberg students of the middle of last\ncentury (above all, E. C. Werlauff, 1781-1871) and the Holberg students\nof to-day (including Professor Georg Brandes and Professor Vilhelm\nAndersen) for the excellent way in which they have explained Holberg to\nus from a Danish point of view.\n\nA complete list of Holberg's works (original and translations) is\ncontained in the British Museum's _Catalogue of Printed Books_ (Vol.\nXXIX.), 1889.\n\n\n\n\nHOLYWELL PRESS\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] _Epistola ad virum per illustrem._ An English translation of this\nwork under the title of _Memoirs of Lewis Holberg, written by Himself in\nLatin, and now first translated into English_, was published in London\n(Hunt & Clarke), 1827.\n\n[2] In 1733 Holberg published a brief \"Synopsis\" in Latin, partly based\non this work. In 1755 the Synopsis was translated into English by\nGregory Sharp, LL.D., Fellow of the Royal Society, the translation being\ndedicated to the then Prince of Wales, afterwards George III. (A second\nedition, \"corrected and enlarged,\" appeared in 1758.) In 1787 a new\nrevised English edition of the Synopsis was published by William\nRadcliffe, A.B., of Oriel College, Oxford. Both translators are\nunanimous in their praise of the original, Radcliffe describing it as _a\nwork which by its disposition and arrangement in the matter of history\nhas been eminently useful to young students and is approved by the\nhighest Orders of literature_.\n\n[3] The complete title of the later translation is: _Journey to the\nWorld Underground, Being the subterraneous Travel of Niels Klim_.\nTranslated from the Latin of Lewis Holberg, London. Published by Thomas\nNorth, 66 Paternoster Row, 1828.\n\n[4] Voltaire, in his _Si\u00e8cle de Louis XIV._, Chap. II (1752), says:\n\"Cromwell ... portant l'Evangile dans une main; l'\u00e9p\u00e9e dans l'autre, le\nmasque de religion sur le visage ... couvrit des qualit\u00e9s d'un grand roi\ntous les crimes d'un ursurpateur.\" In his _Essai sur les Moeurs_, Chap.\nclxxxi. (1757), Voltaire speaks of Cromwell as a man who \"parvint a se\nfaire roi sous un autre nom par sa valeur, second\u00e9e de son hypocrisie.\"\nHume, in his _History of England_, Chap. lx. (1754) describes Cromwell\nas a man who, \"transported to a degree of madness with religious\necstasies, never forgot the purposes to which they might serve ...\nsecretly paving the way by artifice and courage to his own unlimited\nauthority.\"\n\n[5] The essay, from which the above is a quotation, was published for\nthe first time in English in the _English Historical Review_, vol.\nxxxii., page 412-415 (1917), with an introduction by Mr. R. Laache,\nM.A., Christiania.\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:\n\n\n  Text in italics is enclosed with underscores: _italics_.\n\n  Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from\n    the original.\n\n  Punctuation has been corrected without note.\n\n  Obvious typographical errors have been corrected as follows:\n    Page 34: duplicate word \"a\" removed.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"Ludvig Holberg, The Founder of Norwegian Literature and an Oxford Student","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":11143}