Baron Ludvig, the father of modern Danish literature, was born at Bergen, Nov. 6, 1684. He was born of poor parents, and had long to struggle against poverty. His father, indeed, rose to be a colonel, but he rose from the ranks, and died while his son was but a child. Young Holberg was at first destined for the army, but he preferred study. Having studied theology at Copenhagen, he became successively tutor in several families. We find him teaching French at Christiansand, to which he had proceeded after being attacked by fever in Holland. Shortly after this he made his way to Oxford, where he remained fifteen months teaching music and studying history. Having obtained the tutorship of a family of some importance at Copenhagen, Holberg next visited Germany in company with his charge. After visiting Rome he returned to Denmark. Here he was appointed successively to the chairs of metaphysics and eloquence. Hitherto his life had been one of considerable hardship, but now ease, emolument, and fame, were in his path. In his own interesting account of himself, he mentions that it was not till he was upwards of thirty years of age that he was suddenly seized with the desire of composing in verse. In a short while his Peder Paars appeared, and was received with great applause. A national theatre was now founded in Copenhagen, for which Holberg wrote extensively. But the theatricals patronized by Frederick IV, were discouraged by Christian VI. Holberg accordingly turned his attention from comedy to history. Here also he excelled. He wrote the History and Geography of the Danish Monarchy; Ecclesiastical History; and Jewish History. His brethren in the university, who had looked upon the effusions of his comic muse as beneath the dignity of a professor, were now proud of him. He was made rector and treasurer in 1735 and 1737 successively. In 1746 Christian VI died, and Holberg was henceforth free to devote himself to comedy, which, indeed, he had never altogether lost sight of.

He wrote upwards of 30 comedies. The Peiteter was a burlesque on the eagerness of political tradesmen for trying their skill in government on the strength of having read a few pamphlets. It was received with great applause; and has been frequently imitated as well as translated. The Idle Business, or the Man who has no Time, is considered by the Danes to be Holberg's masterpiece. He is supposed to have taken the idea of the piece from an English comedy called The Busy Body. His piece called Honourable Ambition is regarded as very nearly placing the author on a par with Molière. Having travelled in Holland, Germany, France, and Italy, as well as having risen from poverty to high station, Holberg had large experience of men and manners, which he turned to good account. His imagination was rich and original, his estimate of character accurate, his humour always diverting, and the management of his plots ingenious. His expressions, however, are at times coarse; he occasionally exhibits carelessness in minutiae, and renders his burlesque sometimes extravagant.

Besides comedy and history, he wrote poems. Peder Paars has been already noticed. The Subterranean Journey of Nicolas Klim has been translated into most European languages, and although a satirical piece, it is said to have been gravely quoted as history by a German naturalist. The revenue which arose from his writings was very considerable. Though he lived frugally, he was liberal in largely endowing an academy, and an institution for poor girls. He was lean and delicate, and abstemious. He disliked and satirized pedantry. He was fond of the society of ladies, amongst whom he had only small talk and tea to encounter. His religious convictions regarding Christianity were by no means deep. He was created baron on the 6th March 1747, and died 27th January 1754, at the age of seventy. His character as a comic writer is drawn by Professor Rahbeck, who published the select works of Holberg in 21 vols. 8vo, Copenhagen, 1806-1814.

HOLINSHEd, or Holingshed, Raphael, author of the Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, flourished in the sixteenth century. He seems to have been educated at one or other of the greater universities, and to have taken orders in the church; but the only fact in his history known with tolerable certainty is that he died in 1580. In the chronicle called by his name he bore a leading, but not an undivided share, as he received important aid from Stow, the antiquary; Harrison, a clergyman; Hooker, an uncle of the divine of that name; and Francis Boteville, a man of great learning, especially in antiquarian matters. Holinshead's share in the work comprised the history of England up to the date of the Norman Conquest, and from the Norman Conquest down to the year 1577, at which date the first edition of the Chronicle was published. The notice of Elizabeth's reign contained matter so offensive to her and her court that in the second edition, which appeared in 1587, some of the sheets were cancelled altogether. In subsequent reprints, however, these have been restored. The history of Scotland, incorporated by Holinshead in his Chronicle, is for the most part a translation from the Latin of Hector Boece, and is interesting as having furnished Shakspeare with the groundwork of his tragedy of Macbeth. The Chronicle, from being the work of so many different hands, presents, of course, great varieties of literary quality. Its real value depends on its learning and research, which have made it an invaluable aid to all who have since undertaken to illustrate the early annals of England.