THE FIRST HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
CHAPTER I.
HOLLAND—VERSE AND PROSE
introductory—mediæval romance and lyric—the fourteenth century—maerlant and other didactic poets—dirk potter—fifteenth century—the chambers of rhetoric—anna bijns—renaissance—marnix and coornhert—spieghel and roemer visscher—the "eglantine" or "oude kamer"—hooft—song-books—brederoo and starter—vondel—life and work—criticism—literature outside amsterdam—the hague: huyghens—zeeland: jacob cats—camphuyzen—stalpert van der wiele—followers of vondel and hooft—latin prose and verse—heinsius and grotius—dutch prose—hooft—brandt.
On no country in Europe did the two main influences of the sixteenth century—the Renaissance and the Introductory. Reformation—set a deeper mark than on the Netherlands. The country which produced Erasmus is not the least important contributor to the revival of learning, while the revolt of the Netherlands was, in Motley's words, "the longest, the
