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HUYGENS, SIR CONSTANTIJN (1596-1687)

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 22 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HUYGENS, See also:SIR CONSTANTIJN (1596-1687) , Dutch poet and diplomatist, was See also:born at the See also:Hague on the 4th of See also:September 1596. His See also:father, Christiaan Huygens, was secretary to the See also:state See also:council, and a See also:man of See also:great See also:political importance. At the See also:baptism of the See also:child, the See also:city of See also:Breda was one of his sponsors, and the See also:admiral Justinus See also:van See also:Nassau the other. He was trained in every polite accomplishment, and before he was seven could speak See also:French with fluency. He was taught Latin by Johannes Dedelus, and soon became a See also:master of classic versification. He See also:developed not only extraordinary intellectual gifts but great See also:physical beauty and strength, and was one of the most accomplished athletes and gymnasts of his See also:age; his skill in playing the See also:lute and in the arts of See also:painting and See also:engraving attracted See also:general See also:attention before he began to develop his See also:genius as a writer. In 1616 he proceeded, with his See also:elder See also:brother, to the university of See also:Leiden. He stayed there only one See also:year, and in 1618 went to See also:London with the See also:English See also:ambassador See also:Dudley See also:Carleton; he remained in London for some months, and then went to See also:Oxford, where he studied for some See also:time in the Bodleian Library, and to See also:Woodstock, See also:Windsor and See also:Cambridge; he was introduced at the English See also:court, and played the lute before See also:James I. The most interesting feature of this visit was the intimacy which sprang up between the See also:young Dutch poet and Dr See also:Donne, for whose genius Huygens preserved through See also:life an unbounded admiration. He returned to See also:Holland in See also:company with the English contingent of the See also:synod of See also:Dort, and in 1619 he proceeded to See also:Venice in the See also:diplomatic service of his See also:country; on his return he nearly lost his life by a foolhardy exploit, namely, the scaling of the topmost See also:spire of See also:Strassburg See also:cathedral. In 1621 he published one of his most weighty and popular poems, his Batava See also:Tempe, and in the same year he proceeded again to London, as secretary to the ambassador, Wijngaerdan, but returned in three months. His third diplomatic visit to See also:England lasted longer, from the 5th of See also:December 1621 to the 1st of See also:March 1623.

During his See also:

absence, his See also:volume of satires, 't Costelick Mal, dedicated to See also:Jacob See also:Cats, appeared at the Hague. In the autumn of 1622 he was knighted by James I. He published a large volume of See also:miscellaneous poems in 1625 under the See also:title of Otiorum libri See also:sex; and in the same year he was appointed private secretary to the stadholder. In 1627 Huygens married Susanna van Baerle, and settled at the Hague; four sons and a daughter were born to them. In 163o Huygens was called to a seat in the privy council, and he continued to exercise political See also:power with See also:wisdom and vigour for many years, under the title of the See also:lord of Zuylichem. In 1634 he is supposed to have completed his See also:long-talked-of version of the poems of Donne, fragments of which exist. In 1637 his wife died, and he immediately began to celebrate the virtues and pleasures of their married life in the remarkable didactic poem called Dagwerck, which was not published till long after-wards. From 1639 to 1641 he occupied himself by See also:building a magnificent See also:house and See also:garden outside the Hague, and by celebrating their beauties in a poem entitled Hofwijck, which was published in 1653. In 1647 he wrote his beautiful poem of Oogenlroost or " See also:Eye See also:Consolation," to gratify his See also:blind friend See also:Lucretia van Trollo. He made his solitary effort in the dramatic See also:line in 1657, when he brought out his See also:comedy of Trijntje Cornelis Klacht, which deals, in rather broad See also:humour, with the adventures of the wife of a See also:ship's See also:captain at See also:Zaandam. In 1658 he rearranged his poems, and issued them with many additions, under the title of See also:Corn See also:Flowers. He proposed to the See also:government that the See also:present See also:highway from the Hague to the See also:sea at See also:Scheveningen should be constructed, and during his absence on a diplomatic See also:mission to the French court in 1666 the road was made as a compliment to the See also:venerable statesman, who expressed his gratitude in a descriptive poem entitled Zeestraet.

Huygens edited his poems for the last time in 1672, and died in his ninety-first year, on the 28th of March 1687. He was buried, with the pomp of a See also:

national funeral, in the See also:church of St Jacob, on the 4th of See also:April. His second son, Christiaan, the eminent astronomer, is noticed separately. Constantijn Huygens is the most brilliant figure in Dutch See also:literary See also:history. Other statesmen surpassed him in political See also:influence, and at least two other poets surpassed him in the value and originality of their writings. But his figure was more dignified and splendid, his talents were more varied, and his general accomplishments more remarkable than those of any other See also:person of his age, the greatest age in the history of the See also:Netherlands. Huygens is the See also:grand seigneur of the See also:republic, the type of aristocratic See also:oligarchy, the See also:jewel and See also:ornament of Dutch See also:liberty. When we consider his imposing See also:character and the See also:positive value of his writings, we may well be surprised that he has not found a See also:modern editor. It is a disgrace to Dutch See also:scholar-ship that no See also:complete collection of the writings of Huygens exists. His autobiography, De vita propria sermonu"m libri duo, did not see the See also:light until 1817, and his remarkable poem, Cluyswerck, was not printed until 1841. As a poet Huygens shows a finer sense of See also:form than any other See also:early Dutch writer; the See also:language, in his hands, becomes as flexible as See also:Italian. His epistles and lighter pieces, in particular, display his metrical ease and facility to perfection.

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End of Article: HUYGENS, SIR CONSTANTIJN (1596-1687)

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