Present State of the Literature of Holland. 



in his possession. Such boolcs are 

 naiued iu the catalogues and sold at 

 public sales without any remarli being 

 made, and indeed it is looked upon as 

 a matter of perfect indifference. Of 

 what is usually called light readjng, 

 there is so little original in Holland, 

 that the number of their novels and 

 romances does not exceed half a dozen, 

 and so seldom do the public look for 

 any thing really Dutch in this depart- 

 ment, that the author, in order to 

 heighten his celebrity as well as to dis- 

 tinguislihis property, places conspicu- 

 ously on his title page niet vertaald, 

 (not translated.) This practice, (hough 

 it may appear singular to us, is not 

 confined merely to uovels and roman- 

 ces. But while the Dutch are careful 

 to distinguish their own produclious, 

 it must be confessed that they are some- 

 times guilty of neglecting to inform 

 the reader that the work lie is about to 

 peruse is vertaaldA\x<\ not original. 



The state of the drama in Holland 

 does not difter much from tliat of the 

 dej)artments of literature we have men- 

 tioned. The Dutch have several dra- 

 matic writers whom they hold in much 

 repute, but none of their works have 

 possession of the stage, which is en- 

 tirely occupied with translations from 

 the French, German, and English. 

 The latter are in general not taken 

 immediately from the English, but 

 translated from the French translation, 

 and Lear, Othello, and Macbeth, are 

 exhibited in a Dutch mould after pass- 

 ing through a French crucible. It 

 will readily be believed that Shaks- 

 peare is scarcely " himself after going 

 through such a process. VcondelIs the 

 Shakspeare of Holland, and is called 

 the prince of poets by his countrymen. 

 He died in 1679, at tlie iige of 92 years. 

 To perpetuate his memory a medal was 

 struck with the inscription D^Oudste 

 en grootste Poeet, (the oldest and 

 greatest poet.) A monument was also 

 erected in 1772, in the New Church at 

 Amsterdam, on which was inscribed 

 the word Vondel as the highest eulo- 

 gium of that great man. Of the many 

 tragedies he wrote, only one is now oc- 

 casionally acted, and like George Barn- 

 well at tlie London tiuatres, it is only 

 brought forward at the Christmas holi- 

 days. It is alwaj's followed by a na- 

 tional inter'ude called De Britiloft van 

 Kloris UKd Roo.ye (The Weddiug of 

 Kloris and Rose.) This piece is an 

 exact representation of a Dutch wed- 

 ding, such as it was several centuries 



[Feb. h 



ago, and indeed such as it is in many 

 parts of Holland at this day. The 

 characters are dressed in the different 

 costumes of the seven united provinces, 

 the extreme neatness and variety of 

 which, produce a pleasing and novel 

 effect upon a foreigner. The music is 

 simple and natural, and therefore 

 pleasing ; one of the airs, which is very 

 old, resembles very much the beauti- 

 ful Irish air called the legacy. Tiie 

 plot is so simple that it is not neces- 

 sary to describe it. 



The Dutch are well known to be by 

 no means delicate in certain matlers, 

 an instance of which occurs in this 

 national ^iKCR. At weddings it is the 

 custom for tlie friends of the happy 

 pair to present them with some article 

 of housekeeping, not forgetting the 

 cradle for the children and pipes and 

 tobacco for the husband, accompa- 

 nied with an appropriate speech. — 

 Among otljer things a pot de chambre 

 is actually produced on the stage, and 

 made a present of to the husband, with 

 a description of its use. 



The tragedy above mentioned is 

 called Gysbrecht Van ^mstel, and is 

 founded on the siege of Amsterdam 

 by the Spaniards. Gysbrecht Van Ams- 

 tel, the commander of the garrison is 

 informed by a messenger, in a speech 

 of two octavo pages, that the enemy in- 

 tends to take the city by surprise, and 

 gives orders immediately to prepare for 

 the assault. The scene changes to the 

 inside of a convent, where the nuns are 

 seen through windows of painted glass. 

 After a solemn pause they commence 

 chaunting the midnight service. The 

 music is very appropriate, and the 

 whole produces a very fine effect. In 

 the midst of this solemnity, shouts and 

 sounds of war are heard at a distance, 

 and as tliey advance, the agitation of the 

 nuns increase, but the chaunting con- 

 tinues, till the convent gates are heard 

 to burst open, the Spaniards enter 

 sword in hand, and assault the nuns, 

 the noise and tumult increases and the 

 curtain falls while the nuns are throw- 

 ing themselves on their knees to im- 

 plore mercy; but it instantly rises 

 again to exhibit the Spaniards in the 

 act of plunging their swords into 

 their bre^wts. The attack having 

 succeeded, Gysbrecht Van Amstel is 

 obliged to evacuate the city after hav- 

 ing performed prodigies of valour. 

 While he is retiring with his family 

 from the place, an angel descends in a 

 cloud and consoles him, by foretelling 



the 



