Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/203

Rh again compelled to accept a position as private tutor, and this gave him an opportunity of making a short journey to Germany. Finally in 1710 he was admitted to Borch's college for poor students and graduates, and thereby he was enabled to devote himself henceforth exclusively to his studies, and to utilize the materials which he had so diligently collected. In 1711 he made his début as an author, when he published a brief history of the world, entitled "Introduction til de europæiske Rigers Historie," the first Danish work of its kind, and soon afterward he presented to Frederik IV, in manuscript, the history of Christian IV and Frederic III. These and a few other smaller historical works opened the university to him, where in 1714 he was made professor extraordinarius, but still without pay. He soon, however, received a stipend which enabled him to undertake a journey of several years (1714-1716), and now he also visited Paris and Rome. On his return he published his "Jus Naturæ et Gentium," which was based on the works of the great masters in this field, Grotius, Pufendorf, and Thomasius, and in 1718 he was appointed regular professor of metaphysics in the Copenhagen University. On this occasion he delivered an inaugural address which more resembled a funeral sermon than a panegyric on that science, as Holberg was no great admirer of abstract philosophy. Later he became professor of Latin and rhetoric, and finally in 1730, of history and geography, his favorite studies.

Until Holberg obtained his first permanent appointment as university professor he had occupied himself almost exclusively with historical studies, but about this time his intellectual work turned into a completely different channel. As a student he had written verses, but he had soon abandoned the art and for many years he did not produce a line. Poetry was so distasteful to him, that, as he himself relates, he was unable to listen to any poem, however elegantly it might be written, without yawning. After his return from his long journey he entered the field of satire in certain polemical