HEINSIUS, Antony, grand pensionary of Holland by successive quinquennial re-elections, from the year 1689 until his death on the 3d of August 1720, at the age of seventy-nine, was one of the statesmen who, during this memorable period, exercised the greatest influence on the affairs of Europe. Marlborough, Prince Eugene, and Heinsius, formed the famous triumvirate so resolutely determined to humiliate France, and which steeped in bitterness the declining years of Louis XIV He saw his country avenged for the misfortunes which that monarch had inflicted on it in 1672; and he also saw himself avenged; for, after the peace of Nimeguen, having been sent to the court of France on affairs connected with the principality of Orange, he had experienced the ill nature of the haughty and insolent Louvois, who did all but threaten to have him shut up in the Bastille. Heinsius commenced his public career as councillor-pensionary of the town of Delft; and, faithful to his commission, he sometimes, in this capacity, pursued a line of conduct not calculated to make him be considered as a person devoted to the interests of the stadt- [7:11:208]. holder. But at a subsequent period the Prince of Orange honoured him with the most unlimited confidence; and Heinsius, in return, rendered him the most important services. He continued to enjoy the same favour when that prince became king of England, and even after he had been succeeded by Queen Anne. After the death of King William, however, his political conduct in regard to France appears to have experienced some modification, though not to such an extent as to enable the French court to flatter themselves with any decided change in his views. Voltaire, in his Siècle de Louis XIV., represents Heinsius as a Spartan, proud of having humbled the king of Persia, when, in 1709, Louis sent his minister De Torcy to the Hague to sue for peace. De Torcy himself, in his Mémoires (tom. ii. p*3), describes the grand pensionary “as a man of consummate ability in the management of affairs, cold in his manners, polished in his conversation, having nothing repulsive in his demeanour, and rarely warmed, far less excited, by debate. His exterior,” adds the same authority, “was simple, and his house plain; an establishment composed of a secretary, a coachman, a laquais, and a female servant, by no means indicated the credit of a prime minister.” De Torcy further informs us that “he was never accused, either of seeking to prolong the war on account of the consideration which its continuance necessarily gave him, or from any views of private interest or personal ambition.” This is the testimony of an enemy, and cannot, therefore, be suspected of partiality. Μ. de Haren, in a note to his poem of the Gueux, renders the same justice to the calmness and sobriety of Heinsius; but supposes that his seclusion from society prevented him acquiring that knowledge of the human heart which a statesman ought to possess, and thus led him to disregard intelligence, of which one better acquainted with mankind would at once have discerned the importance. “Hence, when the refugee pastor Basnage, in 1707, apprised him of a certain secret convention entered into between the courts of Vienna and Versailles to defeat the projected enterprise against Toulon, Heinsius neglected this information, not imagining it possible that a minister of the gospel could be better initiated in the secrets of cabinets than a grand pensionary.” But Fagel did not share this security, nor was it justified by the event. Μ. de Haren also mentions a singular anecdote of Heinsius. Soon after the peace of Utrecht be was attacked by the pestilence in the midst of the Hague, and cured without the appalling fact being suffered to transpire. On this occasion he displayed admirable prudence and self-possession. The secret was confined to himself, his physician, and Count de Wassenaer-Starrenburg, and was kept with inviolable fidelity until after his death. Heinsius was the last of the magistrates and ministers of the states of Holland who wore the costume of the gown and band. (a.) Heinsius, Daniel, a Dutch philologist, was descended of a distinguished family, and born at Ghent in 1580. In the troubles of the Low Countries, his father, a man without ambition, but of an elevated character, took a part, which proved fatal to his own repose and that of his family. Daniel was sent to Veere, in Zealand, whence, with his parents, he passed over into England; and soon afterwards he accompanied them on their return to Holland. They established themselves first at Delft, then at the village of Ryswick, and lastly at the Hague. The father of Heinsius consoled himself under his misfortunes by devoting his attention to the education of his son; but circumstances obliged the latter to return to Zealand, where he was placed under good masters, though at first he showed no great disposition to profit by their instructions, and preferred play to study. Having, however, evinced a predilection for verse, he composed, at the age of ten, a Latin elegy, which gave a favourable presage of future eminence. As his father intended him for the bar, he was, at the age of fourteen, sent to Franeker to study law; but this intention was defeated by the passion which he had conceived for Greek. Having remained about six months at Franeker, he passed thence to Leyden, whose rising university already shone with great lustre. Here he attracted the notice of Scaliger, whilst Marnix de Sainte-Aldegonde, and the elder Douza, honoured him with particular attention. Between Heinsius and Scaliger there was established an intimacy, founded on affection on the one hand and veneration on the other. A noble emulation now fired the soul of Heinsius, who, though ambitious to rival, despaired of ever approaching so great a model, and spent many sleepless nights in the most anxious and unremitting labour. Douza, however, judiciously attempted to moderate the ardour of his young friend without repressing his ambition, and procured him agreeable relaxation by occasionally carrying him to his country residence at Nordwick, two leagues distant from Leyden. Heinsius was only eighteen when he was attached to the university of Leyden, first to explain the Latin classics, and not long afterwards the Greek; and at the age of twenty-five he was appointed to the chair of history and politics. Scaliger, who died in 1609, had wished to leave him the whole of his library; but Heinsius only accepted part of it. On the death of Paul Merula, the office of librarian to the academy of Leyden devolved on him, and he also discharged the duties of secretary. His increasing reputation now attracted to Leyden a great number of pupils; and as other countries envied Holland the possession of a man of such distinguished merit, propositions were made to him on the part of France, Germany, and Italy. In 1616 Heinsius writes that the Italians had paid him flattering compliments, and that he was strongly solicited to repair to Rome. “Valde Itali nos amant, et jam clanculum s∕ς rnv ίπταλοφον, ingenti praemio, videndae urbis causa, invitamur.” If we may credit Balzac, Heinsius, in his relations with Rome, acted with more adroitness than sincerity (“ménageait un peu la chèvre et le chou”). In the apology for his Herodes Infanticida against the strictures of Balzac, a work which he sent to Rome, a passage of the text in which the pope is mentioned as ipsum Ecclesiae caput, is rectified in the errata into ipsum Ecclxsioe Romance caput. “The text,’ says Balzac, “was for Rome, the errata for Leyden; on the one hand Heinsius wished to please the pope, who w ould probably not read his errata, and on the other to have the means of justifying himself to the ministers, ií he should be accused of being a bad Huguenot, and of keeping up an understanding with the enemy.” But, in the first place, this duplicity is irreconcilable with the known character of Heinsius; secondly, it was not Heinsius himself who edited his Epistola qua Dissertationi D∙ Balzacii ad Herodem Infanticidam respondetur, but Boxhorn; thirdly, the erratum in question is not placed, as usual, at the end of the volume, but is interposed between the dedication and the Epistle; and, lastly, it appears from the statement of Thysius, in his funeral oration on Heinsius, that, in the propositions made to him by Pope Urban VIII. and Cardinal Barberini, in order to draw him to Rome, nothing had been stipulated in reference to religion. Various honours were, however, conferred upon Heinsius. The republic of Venice created him knight of the order of St Mark; the king of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus, named him his historiographer, to which he added the title of privy councillor; and the states of Holland rewarded him for his attachment to his country, and the refusal of various foreign propositions, by choosing him their historiographer, and attaching to the title a liberal salary. Heinsius alienated many friends by accepting, in 1618, the office of secretary to the famous synod[7:11:209] of Dordrecht. At the age of thirty-five he married Ermengarde, sister of Janus Rutgersius, by whom he had a son, Nicoas, and a daughter, Elizabeth, and whom he survived many years. Being endowed with a strong constitution, Heinsius, notwithstanding his unremitting labours, was rarely indisposed; but a particular symptom accompanied the decline of his days, namely, an almost total extinction of memory. He died at Leyden on the 23d of February 1665, when he had nearly completed the eighty-fourth year of his age. Heinsius was not less remarkable for the excellence of his character than for his vast erudition. Modesty, sensibility, benevolence, and candour, formed its distinctive features; and, though he was naturally grave, he loved to joke with his friends, and to indulge in innocent pleasantries. He had some disputes, more or less serious, with Salmasius, Balzac, and a minister of the gospel called John de Croy, who had sought his acquaintance by means of adulation and sycophancy; but being naturally of a mild and peaceable disposition, he avoided controversy as much as possible, and bad probably fewer enemies than almost any eminent man of his time. Notwithstanding his great knowledge, or rather because he knew so much, he adopted as his motto, Quantum est guod nescimus. The works of Heinsius are, 1. Editions of the Greek and Latin classics, or works of criticism connected with them, amounting to eighteen in number; 2. Latin poetry, particularly Iambi, Auriacus a tragedy, Herodes Infanticida also a tragedy, He Contemptu Mortis a poem in four books, fugitive pieces under the titles of Extemporanea and Juvenilia, and some Greek poems; 3. Latin harangues, which have been collected under the title of Orationes Varii Argumenti, Leyden, 1615, 1620, in 12mo; 4. Rerum ad Sylvam Ducis atque alibi in Belgio aut a Belgis anno 1629 gestarum Historia, Leyden, 1631, in folio. (a.) Heinsius, Nicoas, son of the preceding, was born at Leyden on the 29th of July 1620, and there received, under the auspices of his father, the most careful education. The same studies in which his parent had distinguished himself became in some measure the passion of his life. He visited England in 1642; but not finding the English very communicative of their literary treasures, he made only a short stay in their country, where, however, he collated some manuscripts of Ovid, a poet whose works he had already undertaken to illustrate. In 1644 he repaired to Spa for the benefit of the waters, from which he derived great advantage, and on his return traversed Belgium, where he formed useful connections, and acquired new riches for his Ovid. The following year he revisited Spa, and towards aŉtumn proceeded to Paris, where his merit and his name procured him the friendship of the most eminent men, and opened all the libraries to his researches, and where also he published a collection of Latin poems, which met with the most flattering success. Next year he visited Rome, where, through the good offices of Holstenius, he obtained access to the inedited Greek work of John Lydus on the Roman magistracies, and was otherwise well received. From Rome he proceeded to Naples, but the troubles which broke out in that city in the summer of 1647 obliged him to return to Leghorn, whence he proceeded first to Venice and next to Padua, where, under the title of Italica, he published two books of elegies in 1648. After an absence of three years he returned to Leyden; but his stay there was short, for, having yielded to the solicitations of Queen Christina of Sweden, who had invited him to join her literary court, he set out for Stockholm, where he established himself in 1650. The queen undertook to purchase books and manuscripts for his library; but Heinsius, unwilling to take immediate advantage of the generosity of Christina, made advances of which he afterwards found great difficulty in obtaining the reimbursement. At Stockholm he met the ardent enemy of his father, Salmasius, who, in concert with Michon Bourdelot, endeavoured to overwhelm him with every species of annoyance, and to drive him from the court in disgust» But the musè of Heinsius avenged him on his implacable adversary; and nothing but the obstinate malevolence of Salmasius can excuse a piece so virulent as the Scazon in Alastorem, which we find in his poems. During the following years Heinsius traversed Italy in all directions, to make interesting acquisitions for Christina, whether in books and manuscripts, or in medals and antiquities. Salmasius had not ceased to intrigue against him during his absence; but the credit of Bochart counterbalanced this hateful influence, and Salmasius died in 1653, whilst proceeding to take the benefit of the waters of Spa. Next year Heinsius returned to Stockholm, but it was only to demand of Christina, whose tastes began to take another direction, permission to retire, and the reimbursement of the sums which he had expended. Her letter, which is in the form of a placet, and exceedingly remarkable, may be found in the Sylloge Epistolarum of Peter Burmann (tom. V. p. 766, et seqq.). The Queen of Sweden attempted to dissuade Heinsius from carrying his resolution into effect; and, on the 7th of October 1654, the states of Holland appointed him their resident at Stockholm, which induced him to remain some time longer in the Swedish capital. But in the month of February 1655, having lost his father, he resolved to return to his native country. Like Grotius, he was at the point of death on the road; but, more fortunate than that illustrious man, he escaped from a malady which detained him thirty-six days at Dantzig. On his arrival at the Hague, the states, in order to testify their satisfaction with his conduct in Sweden, offered him his choice of the Prussian or Danish legations; but the state of his health prevented his accepting either of those appointments; and, in 1656, he established himself at Amsterdam, where he was appointed secretary. The repose of his latter days was disturbed by a process brought against him by a courtesan, called Margaret Wullen, whom he had known at Stockholm, and who pretended to have rights over him which he refused to recognise. In 1658 he resigned his secretaryship, and then went to establish himself at the Hague, where Virgil, Valerius Flaccus, the Latin muse, and literary correspondence, occupied all the leisure which the process in question left at his disposal. It appears that he also meditated continuing the Annals of Grotius after 1609, but the design was not carried into' execution. Being again appointed resident at the court of Sweden, he set out for that country, and on the road met his debtor Christina, who was on her way to Denmark; she received him kindly, and lavished on him the most flattering distinctions, but forgot to pay her debt, which would have been much more acceptable to Heinsius. About this time, also, Louis XIV. included him in the number of the foreign men of letters to whom he granted pensions; but the post which he occupied at the court of Sweden prevented his enjoying this favour. He never neglected his favourite studies; and it was therefore with regret that, in the year 1667, he found himself charged with a mission to the czar of Muscovy. In 1671 he once more returned to the Hague, but with his health much impaired; and next year the public calamities forced him to withdraw to East Friseland, then to Bremen, Minden, Paderborn, Mayence, Worms, Spire, and Heidelberg. Upon his return to the Hague he occupied himself principally with Valerius Flaccus and Petronius; but being entangled in new processes, he withdrew to Maarssen, in the province of Utrecht, where he established himself about the month of December 1674. This retreat, however, did not shelter him from the annoyances to which he was exposed, and [7:11:210]at length he sought repose in the small town of Viane, where his friend Graevius took pleasure in visiting him. Family affairs having recalled him to the Hague, he died there, on the 7th of October 1681, at the age of sixty-one, having expired in the arms of Graevius, whom he charged with his last instructions. Nicoas Heinsius published or wrote, 1. Claudian, with notes, Leyden, 1650, in 12mo, and Amsterdam, 1665, in 8vo; 2. Ovid, with notes, ibid. 1652, 1661, 1668, in three vols. 12mo; 3. Virgil, without notes, Amsterdam, 1676, and Utrecht, 1704, in 12mo; 4. Valerius Elaccus, without notes, Amsterdam, 1680, in 12mo; 5. Remarks on Silius Italicus, Petronius, and Phaedrus; 6. A great number of Letters, which may be found in the Sylloge Epistolarum of Burmann, in 5 vols. 4to; 7. Poemata, the best edition of which is that of Elzevir, Amsterdam, 1666, in 8vo, dedicated by the author to the Duke of Montausier. Peter Burmann the younger also published Nie. Heinsii Adversariorum libri v. followed by the notes of Heinsius on Catullus and Propertius; and the same author also cites inedited notes of Heinsius on Tacitus, on the dialogue De Claris Oratoribus, and on the Catalecta veterum Poetarum. (a.)