Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/214

196 ber of very enjoyable and striking satires which never stooped to personal attacks. From the very nature of things the same theme is frequently treated by both poets, but Falster's style is an entirely independent one, and in many instances his poem was written before Holberg's. Among his Latin works the most remarkable was his "Amœnitates philologiæ," a collection of dissertations, some of which are scientific, while others discuss the various questions of the day in the same manner as did Holberg in his "Epistler" and "Moralske Tanker." In these works he proves himself a man by no means inferior to Holberg in point of maturity and intellectual vigor. Though thoroughly original as a writer and thinker, he occasionally reminds us of Holberg by independent views and by the ideas he sets forth; like Holberg he defends the importance of the Danish tongue and advocates its right to be employed in literature. His translation of Ovid's "Tristia" is also worthy of mention on account of its beautiful language, and because it preserves the original elegiac tone of the poem.

(1662-1723) occupies a peculiar position in this period as the last representative of the national tendency, which was discussed under the head of the period of learning. His satires are of but little value, broad and coarse, though his verses flow easily enough. On the other hand his heroic songs in honor of Frederik IV are really remarkable, for in them the style and character of the popular ballad has been skilfully preserved; but they, too, frequently show a lack of taste and genuine poetic feeling.

A capital rhyme-smith, who "could not live without rhyming," was Töger Reenberg (1656-1742), who during his lifetime and for a long time afterward was regarded as a great poet, though but few of his productions would at present bear the test of criticism. Some of his drinking