Cologne, where he copied over and over again the tower and crane of the great cathedral. But he cared nothing for hill or vale, or stream or wood. He could reproduce the rows of bricks in a square of Dutch houses sparkling in the sun, or stunted trees and lines of dwellings varied by steeples, all in light or thrown into passing shadow by moving cloud. He had the art of painting microscopically without loss of breadth or keeping. But he could draw neither man nor beast, nor ships nor carts; and this was his disadvantage. His good genius under these circumstances was Adrian van der Velde, who enlivened his compositions with spirited figures; and the joint labour of both is a delicate, minute, transparent work, radiant with glow and atmosphere.
HEYLYN (or Heylin), PETER (1600–1662), English historian
and controversialist, was born at Burford in Oxfordshire.
Having made great progress in his studies, he entered Hart
Hall, Oxford, in 1613, afterwards joining Magdalen College;
and in 1618 he began to lecture on cosmography, being made
fellow of Magdalen in the same year. His lectures, under the
title of Μικρόκοσμος, were published in 1621, and many editions
of this useful book, each somewhat enlarged, subsequently
appeared. Having been ordained in 1624 Heylyn attracted
the notice of William Laud, then bishop of Bath and Wells;
and in 1628 he married Laetitia, daughter of Thomas Highgate,
or Heygate, of Hayes, Middlesex; but he appears to have
kept his marriage secret and did not resign his fellowship.
After serving as chaplain to Danby in the Channel Islands,
he became chaplain to Charles I. in 1630, and was appointed by
the king to the rectory of Hemingford, Huntingdonshire.
John Williams, bishop of Lincoln, however, refused to institute
Heylyn to this living, owing to his friendship with Laud; and
in return Charles appointed him a prebendary of Westminster,
where he made himself very objectionable to Williams, who
held the deanery in commendam. In 1633 he became rector
of Alresford, soon afterwards vicar of South Warnborough, and
he became treasurer of Westminster Abbey in 1637; but before
this date he was widely known as one of the most prominent
and able controversialists among the high-church party. Entering
with great ardour into the religious controversies of the
time he disputed with John Prideaux, regius professor of divinity
at Oxford, replied to the arguments of Williams in his pamphlets,
“A Coal from the Altar” and “Antidotum Lincolnense,” and
was hostile to the Puritan element both within and without
the Church of England. He assisted William Noy to prepare
the case against Prynne for the publication of his Histriomastix,
and made himself useful to the Royalist party in other ways.
However, when the Long Parliament met he was allowed to
retire to Alresford, where he remained until he was disturbed
by Sir William Waller’s army in 1642, when he joined the
king at Oxford. At Oxford Heylyn edited Mercurius Aulicus,
a vivacious but virulent news-sheet, which greatly annoyed
the Parliamentarians; and consequently his house at Alresford
was plundered and his library dispersed. Subsequently he led
for some years a wandering life of poverty, afterwards settling
at Winchester and then at Minster Lovel in Oxfordshire; and
he refers to his hardships in his pamphlet “Extraneus Vapulans,”
the cleverest of his controversial writings, which was written
in answer to Hamon l’Estrange. In 1653 he settled at Lacy’s
Court, Abingdon, where he resided undisturbed by the government
of the Commonwealth, and where he wrote several books
and pamphlets, both against those of his own communion,
like Thomas Fuller, whose opinions were less unyielding than
his own, and against the Presbyterians and others, like Richard
Baxter.
His works, all of which are marred by political or theological rancour, number over fifty. Among the most important are: a legendary and learned History of St. George of Cappadocia, written in 1631; Cyprianus Anglicus, or the history of the Life and Death of William Laud, a defence of Laud and a valuable authority for his life; Ecclesia restaurata, or the History of the Reformation of the Church of England (1661; ed. J. C. Robertson, Cambridge, 1849); Ecclesia vindicata, or the Church of England justified; Aërius redivivus, or History of the Presbyterians; and Help to English History, an edition of which, with additions by P. Wright, was published in 1773. In 1636 he wrote a History of the Sabbath, by order of Charles I. to answer the Puritans; and in consequence of a journey through France in 1625 he wrote A Survey of France, a work, frequently reprinted, which was termed by Southey “one of the liveliest books of travel in its lighter parts, and one of the wisest and most replete with information that was ever written by a young man.” Some verses of merit also came from his active pen, and his poetical memorial of William of Waynflete was published by the Caxton Society in 1851.
Heylyn was a diligent writer and investigator, a good ecclesiastical lawyer, and had always learning at his command. His principles, to which he was honestly attached, were defended with ability; but his efforts to uphold the church passed unrecognized at the Restoration, probably owing to his physical infirmities. His sight had been very bad for several years; yet he rejoiced that his “bad old eyes” had seen the king’s return, and upon this event he preached before a large audience in Westminster Abbey on the 29th of May 1661. He died on the 8th of May 1662 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where he had been sub-dean for some years.
Lives of Heylyn were written by his son-in-law Dr John Barnard or Bernard, and by George Vernon (1682). Bernard’s work was reprinted with Robertson’s edition of Heylyn’s History of the Reformation in 1849.
HEYN, PIETER PIETERZOON [commonly abbreviated
to Piet] (1578–1629), Dutch admiral, was born at Delfshaven
in 1578, the son of Pieter Hein, who was engaged in the herring
fishery. The son went early to sea. In his youth he was taken
prisoner by the Spaniards, and was forced to row in the galleys
during four years. Having recovered his freedom by an exchange
of prisoners, he worked for several years as a merchant
skipper with success. The then dangerous state of the seas
at all times, and the continuous war with Spain, gave him
ample opportunity to gain a reputation as a resolute fighting
man. Wills which he made before 1623 show that he had
been able to acquire considerable property. When the Dutch
West India Company was formed he was Director on the Rotterdam
Board, and in 1624 he served as second in command of
the fleet which took San Salvador in Bahia de Todos os Santos
in Brazil. Till 1628 he continued to serve the Company, both
on the coast of Brazil, and in the West Indies. In the month
of September of that year he made himself famous, gained
immense advantage for the Company, and inflicted ruinous
loss on the Spaniards, by the capture of the fleet which was
bringing the bullion from the American mines home to Spain.
The Spanish ships were outnumbered chiefly because the
convoy had become scattered by bad management and bad
seamanship. The more valuable part of it, consisting of the
four galleons, and eleven trading ships in which the king’s
share of the treasure was being carried, became separated
from the rest, and on being chased by the superior force of
Heyn endeavoured to take refuge at Matanzas in the island
of Cuba, hoping to be able to land the bullion in the bush
before the Dutchman could come up with them. But Juan de
Benavides, the Spanish commander, failed to act with decision,
was overtaken, and his ships captured in the harbour before
the silver could be discharged. The total loss was estimated
by the Spaniards at four millions of ducats. Piet Heyn now
returned home, and bought himself a house at Delft with the
intention of retiring from the sea. In the following year, however,
he was chosen at a crisis to take command of the naval force of
the Republic, with the rank of Lieutenant-Admiral of Holland,
in order to clear the North Sea and Channel of the Dunkirkers,
who acted for the king of Spain in his possessions in the Netherlands.
In June of 1629 he brought the Dunkirkers to action,
and they were severely beaten, but Piet Heyn did not live
to enjoy his victory. He was struck early in the battle by a
cannon shot on the shoulder and fell dead on the spot. His
memory has been preserved by his capture of the Treasure
