Nils Juel gave heed to the tempest's roar;
Now is the hour!

He hoisted his blood-red flag once more,
And smote upon the foe full sore,

And shouted loud, through the tempest's roar,
"Now is the hour!"

"Fly!" shouted they, "for shelter fly!
Of Denmark's Juel who can defy
The power?"

North Sea! a glimpse of Wessel rent

*"Tordenskiold," Thunder-shield, was the sobriquet of Admiral

Wessel.

LUDVIG HOLBERG.

LUDVIG HOLBERG was born in Norway in 1684. His father being an officer in the

army, the boy was intended for military life, but showed such a strong disinclination for it that he was sent instead to the Bergen Latin School. Holberg subsequently taught in the house of a country parson with the intention of returning to his studies and becoming a clergyman. He was seized, however, with a passion for travel. With very little means, but marvellously proficient in languages, he journeyed to Holland, England, Denmark, Germany, and after that to Paris and Rome. He finally settled in Copenhagen as a professor in the University and wrote histories and other learned works in Latin. But he also began writing those comic masterpieces which made him a blessing to his countrymen and to mankind. To save the dignity of the University he assumed for these comedies the name "Hans Mikkelsen."

The first that appeared was the mock heroic poem of "Peder Paars." Peder, in making a journey to his betrothed, was shipwrecked on the island of Anholt, and went through many strange adventures. The work was intended as a parody on the epics of Homer and Virgil, but as it developed it became a biting and exquisitely comical satire of prevailing follies. The inhabitants of Anholt misunderstood that which was intended to be only general and impersonal, and complained to the king, insisting that the poem should be burnt as libelous and indecent, and that the author should be punished. Frederick IV., however, found the work harmless and amusing, and Holberg was thus saved from public prosecution. The satire caused an extraordinary sensation and made

the university professor famous, though many thought his book undignified to the last degree.

Plays were at this time hardly known in Denmark. The old moralities and mysteries, and the school comedies, given in Latin at the schools and university, had died out, and nothing had taken their place except a few French and German plays presented from time to time before the court.

In 1720 a French actor received permission to build a theatre in Copenhagen where dramas could be acted in the Danish language. It was opened with a translation of Molière's "L'Avare." Holberg was asked to write for it original plays, and in a few years he had produced more than twenty. In 1728 the capital was devastated by fire, both palace and theatre being burned to the ground. This and the subsequent reign of a puritanic king put an end to all dramatic progress for the time being.

Holberg's influence on the intellectual life of Denmark was really stupendous, and almost unparalleled. His extensive travels gave him breadth of horizon and an insight into human nature. He was distinguished for his wealth of intellect, moral elevation, keen sense of the ridiculous, and sympathy for the masses. His shafts were leveled at the formalism of religion, the pedantry of schools, the ignorance and folly of society, and the debasement of the poor by the ruling classes. His characters were taken from daily life, and painted so vividly that it was said of him by Oehlenschläger: "If Copenhagen had been buried beneath the ground, and only Holberg's comedies had remained, we should nevertheless have known the life that stirred within its walls, not only in its broad outlines, but also in many of its minutest details." Before his time it was said that "a gentleman wrote Latin to his friends, talked French to the ladies, called his dog in German, and used Danish only to swear at his servants." Holberg was a really learned man and might have conformed to the fashion, but his strong national spirit, which was manifested in his histories, found vent also in pictures of the people. He died in 1747, after clearing away the rubbish of centuries; and by the permanent value of his works he must be considered the founder of modern Danish literature.