THE 



No. 350.] FEBRUARY 1, 1821. [1 of Vol. 51. 



if any one enquire in regard to the public feelings which «;uide tlie Conductor of this Miscellany, he re- 

 plies, that in Po/ilics, he is an immovable friend to (he principles of civil liberty, and of a benevolent 

 administration of government ; and is of the party of the Tories, the Whigs, and the Radical Reformers, 

 as far as they are friends to the same principles and practices; — (hat in matters of iJf/ig!cin, acting in 

 the spirit of Christianity, he maintains perfect liberty of conscience, and is desirous of living in nnidial 

 charity with every sect of Christians; — and that, in P/w'o.wphy,he prefers the nsefiil to the speculative, 

 constantly lejecling doctrines which have no better foundation than the authority of respected uamcR, 

 and admitting the assumption of no causes which are not equal and analogous to tbe effects. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



For the Monthly Magazine. 

 Present State of the national lite- 

 RATXmE of HOLLAND, rvith some Ac- 

 count of the pruwipal living DUTCH 



AUTHORS. 



MOST of the European nations 

 have greatly enriched their own 

 literature by translating the produc- 

 tions of their ueighboui'S, as well as by 

 studying them in the original. It is, 

 however, a remarkable fact that the 

 Dutch writers and their works are as 

 little known to the other nations of 

 Europe as those of China or Japan and 

 indeed they appear to be as if by com- 

 mon consent excluded from the great 

 republic of letters. This may partly 

 arise from a very prevailing opinion 

 that the Dutch have no writers of emi- 

 nence, and that their works are un- 

 worthy of our attention. AFithout at- 

 teniptiug to discuss the subject, or 

 wishing to place Dutch literature on 

 higher ground than it is fairly entitled 

 to, we shall merely give it as our opin- 

 ion, which arises from a long acquain- 

 tance with the Dutch language and the 

 works of their writers, tliat they are 

 at least not unworthy of our notice, 

 and many of tiieir productions would 

 be found both useful and entertaining 

 if translated into English. 



In Holland the trade of authorship 

 is unknown, most of their writers being 

 either engaged in some profession, or 

 merchants, tradesmen, or mechanics. 

 No author lives by his works, and 

 though in some other countries many 

 of them do little more than live, yet in 

 Holland even this would be impossible. 

 A writer liaving produced a work, bar- 

 gains with a bookseller to publish it 

 for him at his own (the author's) ex- 

 pence, as no bookseller will speculate 

 as a publisher. If the author is cele- 

 brated, perhaps from seven hundred to 

 a thousand copi(!S may be printed, 

 which are sent to tlie principal book- 

 sellers throughout the country on com- 



MoNTiiLY Mat;. No. .'J50. 



mission, and those v.'hich are not sold 

 vvitliiu a limited time, are returned. 

 When a work extends to more than 

 one volume, only one is published at a 

 time ; and this is not only the case with 

 poems and plays, but is always done 

 in publish ing histories, novels, &c. 

 not only in the Dutch language, but 

 translations from any other.' On 

 tliis account, sometimes three or four 

 months or more, elapse between the 

 publication of eacli volume, and not 

 u:ifrequently more than a year passes, 

 before even a novel consisting of three 

 or four volumes, is completed! This 

 manner of publication would by no 

 means suit the impatience of an Eng- 

 lish novel reader, who can scarcely lay 

 his head upon his pillow till he has 

 finished the whole work. It scarcely 

 ever happpns that the productions, even 

 of the most celebrated authors, reach a 

 second edition ; this has not been the 

 case even with tlie works of Bilderdijk, 

 their greatest living poet. Literary 

 property is, therefore, of little value in 

 Holland. Tiiere are, however, no co- 

 pies presented to the universities and 

 public libraries, as in this country, 

 wliich often operates as a heavy tax 

 ujwn autiiors or publishei's. But though 

 the Dutch have many writers, by far 

 the greater part of the books published 

 are translations, and though their own 

 works are scarcely ever found in any 

 other language, they eagerly translate 

 every publication at all celebrated or 

 popular from the English, French, and 

 German. Tlie booksellers' shops and 

 circulating libraries are almost entirely 

 filled witli translations, a large propor- 

 tion of which are French romances, 

 many of them not of the purest de- 

 scription. The Dutch are, however, 

 by no means squeamish on this point, 

 and well-dressed modest-looking fe- 

 males enquire for books at (he circu- 

 lating library whidi an English l>o'>k- 

 seller would not be permitted to have 

 A in 



