Bilderdijk, WILLEM

Bilderdijk, WILLEM, a Dutch poet and philologist, was born at Amsterdam, 7th September 1756. While studying law at Leyden, and afterwards, when practising at the Hague, he devoted himself assiduously to literature and poetry. On the invasion of Holland by the French he repaired to Brunswick, and afterwards visited London, where he supported himself by lecturing and teaching. In 1806 he returned to Holland, where he was received as one who had done his country honour; and the newly-elected king of Holland (Louis Bonaparte) appointed him president of the new Institute at Amsterdam, and also made him his own instructor in the Dutch language. Bilderdijk afterwards resided at Leyden and then at Haarlem, where he died 18th December 1831. His contributions to poetic literature were very numerous; but though his lyrics especially contain many beauties, yet, with one or two exceptions, none of his poems display any remarkable originality, or any great wealth of imagination. He also made valuable contributions to the exposition of the older monuments of Dutch literature, and wrote a history of the Netherlands. He was strongly conservative in his tendencies, theological and other. His collected poems have been edited by Da Costa (Amsterdam, 1856-59).