VALCKENAER, Lewis Caspar, one of the ablest scholars of the eighteenth century, was born at Lecuwarden in Friesland, in the year 1715. He prosecuted his academical studies at Franeker and Leyden, and at an early age distinguished himself by his uncommon skill in ancient literature. The first appointment which his learning procured him was that of conrector of the gymnasium of Campen; and in 1741, after he had recommended himself by some very erudite publications, he succeeded Hemsterhu sius in the Greek chair at Franeker. With this, in 1755, was united the professorship of Greek antiquities. In 1766 he was called to the university of Leyden; where, with the chair of the Greek language and Greek antiquities, he also held that of the history of his native country. In this honourable station he continued for nearly twenty years, in the enjoyment of a very high and well-earned reputation. He formed many excellent scholars, and eminently contri [7:21:539]buted to maintain the credit which the university had acquired as the first seminary of Greek literature. He died on the 15th of March 1785, in the seventieth year of his age.

Valckenaer possessed a masterly acquaintance with the entire compass of the Greek language and literature. He was an acute and sagacious critic, and he displayed no mean talents as a Latin orator. We subjoin a list of his principal works. De Ritibus in Jurando a veteribus He-bracis maxime ac Graecis observatis. Franequerae, 1735, 4to. Specimina Academica. Fran. 1737, 4to. Ammonius de adfinium Vocabulorum Differentia. Accedunt Opuscula nondum edita, &c. Lugd. Bat. 1739, 4to. Euripidis Phoenissae. Interpretationem addidit H. Grotii; Graeca castigavit e Mstis, atque adnotationibus instruxit; scholia, partim nunc primum evulgata, subjecit. Fran. 1755, 4to. Euripidis Hippolytus, &c. Accedit Diatribe in Euripidis perditorum Dramatum Reliquias. Lugd. Bat. 1768, 4to. The Diatribe, which is very able and elaborate, was published separately in 1767∙ Theocriti, Bionis, et Moschi Carmina Bucolica, Graece et Latine. Emendavit variisque lectionibus instruxit. Lugd. Bat. 1779, 8vo. He had published ten idyls of Theocritus in 1773. Ti. Hemsterhusii Orationes, quarum prima est de Paulo Apostolo. L. C. Valckenari tres Orationes, quibus subjectum est Schediasma, Specimen exhibens Adnotationum Criticarum in Loca quaedam Librorum Sacrorum Novi Foederis. Praefiguntur duae Orationes Joannis Chrysostomi in Laudem Pauli Apostoli, cum veteri versione Latina Aniani, ex. cod. MS. hic illic emendata. Lugd. Bat. 1784, 8vo. Schedius was the editor of his Observationes Academicae, quibus via munitur ad Origines Graecas investigandas, Lexicoumque Defectus resarciendos. Traj. ad Rhen. 1790, 8vo. These observations are accompanied with the prelections of Van Lennep De Analogia Linguae Graecae. The following posthumous work of Valckenaer was published by his son-in-law Luzac: Callimachi Elegiarum Fragmenta, cum Elegia Catulii Cal-limachea. Lugd. Bat. 1799, 8vo. J. A. H. Tittmann published Davidis Ruhnkenii, L. C. Valckenarii, et aliorum, ad Joh. Aug. Ernesti Epistolae. Accedunt D. Ruhnkenii Observationes in Callimachum, et L. C. Valckenarii Adnota-tiones ad Thomam Magistrum. Lipsiae, 1802, 2 tom. 8vo. Diatribe de Aristobulo Judaeo, Philosopho Peripatetico Alexandrino. Lugd. Bat. 1806, 4to. Opuscula Philologica, Critica, et Oratoria, nunc primum conjunctim edita. Lipsiae, 1809, 2 tom. 8vo.

His son John Valckenaer, successively professor of law at Franeker, Utrecht, and Leyden, was likewise known as an author. He was a strenuous adherent of the popular party, in opposition to the house of Orange; and he acted a conspicuous part in the public affairs of the eventful era to which he belonged. He became a member of the legislative body of the new republic; and the Batavian directory sent him on a diplomatic mission to Spain. When Bonaparte had divulged his intention of incorporating the kingdom of Holland with the French empire, Valckenaer was despatched to Paris in order to remonstrate against such a measure. His eloquence was however ineffectual; and, on his return, relinquishing all connection with politics, he betook himself to a delightful retreat in the vicinity of Haarlem, where he died on the 19th of January 1820, at the age of sixty-two.