continually at pains to speak of his "moral" comedies, it is manners
and not morals that he satirizes. He is interested, not so much in
effecting a fundamental reform in the lives of his characters, as in
giving them a little social sense. He preaches, not against distinct
moral turpitude like hypocrisy and avarice, but against inordinate
affection for lap-dogs (Melampe), pietistic objections to masked
balls {Masquerades}, and superstitious belief in legerdemain
(Witchcraft). Holberg voices the urbane humanistic spirit that
characterized the eighteenth century at its best.

Erasmus Montanus seems at first sight a mere farce, in which the
author ridicules academic pedantry and the vapid formalism of logic
as once taught at the University of Copenhagen. But it is much more
than that. Holberg gives us a memorable series of genre paintings of
Danish life of his day, and at the same time presents a situation of
universal interest. Erasmus is a prig who has adopted some new
ideas, not so much from righteous conviction as from the feeling
that they will give him intellectual caste. His revolutionary
theories raise an uproar in the village. Each apostle of the old
order opposes them in his characteristic way, and Erasmus has not
enough real faith within himself to prevail against the combined
attacks of the Philistines; he renounces with oaths the assertions
that the world is round. Still, there is nothing tragic in his
renunciation, for we feel that he is as great a fool as any one in
the play. Erasmus Montanus is a pure comedy, in which the author's
humor plays freely upon all the figures in the drama; and it is just
because the characters rather than the action absorb our interest
that we do not regard it as a farce. Professor Vilhelm Andersen
correctly described it as a "Danish culture-comedy of universal
significance."