Page:An Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe.djvu/81

 produce somewhat great, if their intestine divisions do not unhappily prevent them.

history of polite learning in Denmark, may be comprized in the life of one single man; it rose and fell with the late famous baron Holberg. This was, perhaps, one of the most extraordinary personages that has done honour to the present century. His being the son of a private centinel, did not abate the ardour of his ambition, for he learned to read, though without a master. Upon the death of his father, being left entirely destitute, he was involved in all that distress, which is common among the poor, and of which the Great have scarce any idea. However, though only a boy of nine years old, he still persisted in pursuing his studies, travelled about from school to school,