183 



NETHERLANDS (LITERATURE.) 



bant, and particularly in Liege, though so long united 

 to Germany. The dialects of the Low German, spoken 

 in the Netherlands, may be divided into five: 1. the 

 priij T Dutch, which, as early as towards the end of 

 the fifteenth century, was elevated to a literary lan- 

 pu:ii:e in the northern provinces; 2. the (so called) 

 I'easiint Frisian (once the literary language of Gysbert 

 Japix), an idiom which is gradually disappearing; 

 3. the. Gelders dialect, or the (so called) Lower 

 lUiciiMi ; 4. the Groningen dialect, to which also 

 belongs the Upper Vssel dialect ; and, 5. the Flem- 

 U i. which (IMS remained the literary language in the 

 southern provinces, though much poorer than the 

 Dutch, and overloaded with all the mongrel words, 

 of which Coornhert, Spiegel, and Hoost have purified 

 the Dutch. As to Belgium, the French sovereignty 

 there of nearly twenty years greatly narrowed the 

 bounds of the Teutonic languages, particularly in the 

 cities, and especially in Brabant The commence- 

 ment of the independent development of the Dutch 

 language also marks the beginning of the Dutch 

 literature. As early as towards the end of the fifteenth 

 century, the language was already fixed by numerous 

 translations of the Bible, controversial writings, 

 poems, and popular works. Gansfort and Agricola, 

 in Groningen, were among the first who distinguished 

 them-elves as divines and scholars. Erasmus, of 

 Rotterdam, made far greater progress. A still greater 

 genius, Hugo Grotius, in the beginning of the seven- 

 teenth century, when science, repressed during the 

 long struggle for liberty, began again to revive, em- 

 braced, at the same time, philology and antiquities, 

 poetry, history, philosophy, theology, and jurispru- 

 dence in all its branches. The northern provinces 

 were long destitute of a university : that of Louvain, 

 in Brabant, served for all the Low Countries, until 

 king Philip established another at Douai for his Wal- 

 loon subjects, which, however, after it came under 

 French dominion, declined rapidly. But the univer- 

 sity of Leyden, founded in 1575, by prince William 

 I., in order to reward the patriotism of her citizens, 

 displayed in a valiant resistance against the Spaniards, 

 soon exerted a beneficial influence over the whole 

 united Netherlands. Men like Scaliger, Lipsius, 

 Daniel and Nicolas Heinsius, Gronovius, Van Bahrle, 

 Spanheim, and others, in ancient literature; Erpenius 

 and Golius in Arabic; Arminius, Drusius, Coccejus, 

 and others, in divinity; the two Snellius in mathe- 

 matics, made this university famous over all Europe. 

 Universities were also founded at Franeker in 1585, 

 at Groningen in 1614, Utrecht in 1636, and Harder- 

 w\k in 1647, and their competition with the univer- 

 sity of Leyden was very advantageous to science. 

 Towards the end of the seventeenth century, Huygens, 

 Leeuwenhoek,Zwnmmerdam, Hartsoeker, and others, 

 distinguished themselves in natural history and astro- 

 nomy. New light was shed on the Oriental, Greek, 

 and Dutch languages ; also on medicine, after the 

 peace of Utrecht, by men like Alb. Schultens, Tibe- 

 rius Hemsterhuis, Lambert Ten Kate, and Hermann 

 Boerhaave; and, under a series of distinguished men 

 who succeeded them, these branches flourished more 

 than ever, particularly at Leyden, which, during the 

 whole of the eighteenth century, was indebted for 

 many distinguished professors to the university of 

 Franeker. Utrecht also had its Wesseling, Duker, 

 Drakenborch, and Saxe. Among the jurisconsults, 

 Mathaei, Huber, Noot, and Voet are distinguished. 

 The cultivation of the Dutch language was especially 

 promoted by grammarians, including, besides the 

 above-mentioned Lambert Ten Kate, Sewels, Zeyde- 

 laar, Kramer, and Van Moerbeek. Dictionaries were 

 produced by Kramer, Sewels, Halma, Moerbeek, 

 Weidenbach, and Weiland. In philology, history, 

 geography, mathematics, natural philosophy, and 



medicine, the Dutch have distinguished themselves 

 in the highest degree by talent, erudition, and dili- 

 gence, and their contributions to civil and public law 

 are very valuable. The Dutcli have always had men 

 of the first distinction in ancient classical li;erature. 

 Works of this kind, however, ciinnot be called a 

 national literature, particularly if they are .vritten, 

 as was mostly the case with these, in a foreign lan- 

 guage, or by natives of foreign countries. Among 

 the men who shone at Leyden, as stars of the first 

 magnitude, Scaliger and Luzac were born in France, 

 Albinus in Dessau, Vossius in the Palatinate, Grouo- 

 vius (properly GronAof) in Hamburg; Ruhnken was 

 a Pomeranian, Vorstius a native of Cologne, and the 

 great philologist Wyttenbach was a Swiss. The 

 national literature, properly speaking, of the Dutch, 

 is deficient in originality, because mostly formed on 

 the model of the Germans, English, and French ; yet 

 they have produced works which need not slum a 

 comparison with those of other countries. In the 

 seventeenth century, their poetry flourished : their 

 native popular poetry is fine, and other poetical pro- 

 ductions are distinguished by power, fulness, and 

 beauty of description and language. From 1640 to 

 1750, their national theatre was particularly de- 

 veloped, and was carried to a high degree of per- 

 fection by several poets of talent. Until 1750, the 

 Dutch theatre was much richer in original pieces 

 than the German ; and the Dramas of Van der Gon, 

 Rotgans, Duyf, Lescalje, Benagie, and De Marre 

 were incomparably more beautiful than what the 

 period of Gottsched produced in Germany. Yet 

 many of those Dutch plays are mere imitations of the 

 French. Among the poets who distinguished them- 

 selves, are Jan van der Doos (Janus Douza of Nor- 

 wik, died 1604), who is eminent as a philologist, 

 historian, and Latin poet, here, however, chiefly 

 mentioned as one of the first who attempted poetry 

 in the vernacular tongue, in which Daniel Heinse ol 

 Ghent (who died 1655) followed him with great suc- 

 cess. Peter Cornelius van Hooft of Amsterdam 

 (who died 1647), esteemed for his histories of king 

 Henry IV., and Belgium, and an excellent transla- 

 tion of Tacitus, was too artificial in his tragedies and 

 other poems, and his language is overloaded ; but, 

 in all the poems of James Cats (q. v., who died in 

 1660), there breathes a true spirit of poetry, a pecu- 

 liar serenity, wisdom, and piety. The Dutch call 

 him their Ovid. The poems of Jan Antonides van 

 der Goes (who died in 1687) have the reputation of 

 correctness and elegance. Joost van der Vondel of 

 Cologne (who died in 1679) wrote metrical transla- 

 tions of the Psalms, of Virgil and Ovid, satires, 

 eulogies, many tragedies, and an epij poem, Adam 

 and Lucifer, and has obtained the fame of a classic 

 poet, among the Dutch. His language, if not always 

 correct, is nervous and rich. Among his tragedies is 

 also a Maria Stuart. A complete collection of these 

 tragedies appeared, in 1720, at Amsterdam, in two 

 volumes. Oonstantius Huggens (who died in 1687) 

 is celebrated for his epigrams, James Westerbann 

 (who died in 1670) and John Adolphus Dans (who 

 died in 1674) for their erotic poems. Among the 

 poets distinguished for their mirthful vein are John 

 van der Veen (who died 1660) and John Decker 

 (who died 1664.) Luke Rotgans of Amsterdam (who 

 died in 1710) formed himself on the model of the 

 ancient classics, and his epic poem William III., as 

 well as his tragedies, prove sufficiently what models 

 he strove to imitate. Jan van Broeckhuyzen of Am- 

 sterdam (who died 1707), celebrated as a critic and a 

 Latin poet, left also, in the Dutch language, odes, idyls, 

 and other poems. The lyric poems of A mold Moonen 

 and the idyls of Wellekens should not be forgotten. 

 Hubert Corneliszoon Poot of Abtwout, near Delft 



