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poet, that would have justified anything but the most oi'dinary expecta- 

 tions. His parents, both natives of Antwerp, had been compelled to 

 leave their country in consequence of the persecutions raging against 

 the Reformed Church, of which they were sincere adherents. They 

 removed to Cologne, and, in the year 1587, rejoiced in the birth of a 

 son, who was afterwards acknowledged as the head of the Dutch poets. 

 After a few years they were advised to emigrate to Holland, where 

 every one enjoyed liberty of conscience ; and, accordingly, Vondel 

 established himself first at Utrecht, and afterwards in Amsterdam, where 

 he can'ied on the trade of a hosier. As it is usual to trace genius to its 

 infancy it may be as well to state that our poet showed in his boyhood 

 a great love of poetry; but his first efforts were by no means successful. 

 He himself seems to have been unconscious of his own talent, as on 

 his marriage, in the year 1010, he entered into the same business as his 

 father. It was then that an anxious desire for information began to 

 manifest itself in him. Leaving his business to the care of his wife, 

 he began to take lessons of an Englishman in the Latin language, and 

 further improved himself under the tuition of a certain Abbama. He 

 was soon able to read the Latin authors fluently; and in his writings 

 gives frequent proofs of his familiarity with them. At a later period of 

 his life, he furnished his country with an excellent translation of Virgil 

 and Ovid. He was now thirty-three years of age, and had as yet 

 produced nothing worthy of himself, when a serious illness threatened 

 to put an end to his life ; and so severe were his sufferings that he 

 was often heard to wish for a speedy death. But, once restored to 

 health, his former love of learning revived ; and he joined a literary 

 society, consisting of the most eminent literary men of his country, 

 whose principal object it was to develope and refine their national 

 tongue. 



The United Provinces of the Netherlands were, at that time, passing 

 through a most dangerous crisis, in the transition from a despotic to 

 a constitutional government. They had been united during a long 

 resistance to the Spanish dominion. No sacrifice of property, or even 

 of life, was considered' too much for the destruction of the common 

 enemy, and for the maintenance of the national liberties. But when 

 the enemy was subdued, the unsettled elements of the nation began to 

 disturb the public peace. Every sect and every party contended for pre- 

 eminence. There were at that time many men, who, by their patriotism 

 obtained a great influence over the opinions of the senate, and of the 

 people. William of Orange stands foremost among these ; but there 

 was one who, tiiough playing a less conspicuous part, was not a less 



