SUHM, PETER FREDERIK VON, one of the most laborious writers of Denmark, was born at Copenhagen on the 18th of October 1728. He is said to have read nearly all his father's library, consisting of some 1500 volumes, before he entered college in 1746. He began the study of jurisprudence, but soon turned aside from the law, even when the brightest prospects in that profession were luring him on, to pursue his literary tastes. He began by studying northern history and antiquities; and with that
purpose he visited Norway, and remained there from 1751 to 1765. His best writings are—Odin, or the Mythology of Northern Paganism, 1771; the Critical History of Denmark, 4 vols., 1774–81; and the History of Denmark, 7 vols., 1782. He likewise wrote Idylls and Tales with grace and spirit. These will be found in his Samlade Skrifter, 16 vols., 1788–99. His benevolence was as conspicuous a feature of his character as his immense literary industry. His great library, consisting of 100,000 volumes, he threw open to the public, and he consented that it should be united to the royal library a short time before his death, which took place on the 7th September 1798.